


Starstruck

by midnightwolfGX



Category: Alpha and Omega (2010)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-03 00:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12737334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightwolfGX/pseuds/midnightwolfGX
Summary: In the fictional city of Jasper, Canada, Humphrey Chambers is in love with Kate Ramirez. Unfortunately, Kate is already the girlfriend of Garth Burton, much to Humphrey's disappointment. Later, Humphrey discovers that he is a descendant of a very powerful bloodline, and that he also has this power. Humphrey has to learn how to control this power and hopefully win Kate's heart.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> THIS STORY IS OLD! I simply imported my work from FanFiction.net.

_-6,500 B.C.-_

The island of Atlantis is in danger. Athens has managed to create a stronger army than even their rival, Sparta. Not even the great weapon the Atlanteans possessed was able to stop them. Atlantis was badly outnumbered.

" _What will we do now, sire!?_ " an wolf warrior said in Atlantean language to his superior as they fled on a flying vehicle. " _The Athenians are going to arrive on Atlantis' shore in only a matter of moments!_ " the lead warrior said. " _We can't fight back now! The winds and waters are too treacherous! We must protect our people!_ " They flew back over the island of Atlantis after several more terrifying moments.

The weather and ocean had both become highly unstable due to the misuse of a great energy source Atlantis has had for thousands of years. In an attempt to stop Athens, a discharge from the power source had catastrophic events on the environment. This means that the Athenians were not the only threat to the island.

The vehicle finally entered the large city on the island and continued to the very heart of the city. When it came into view, the warriors noticed that the bright silver light, which always hovered above the city with a few stone slabs orbiting it, has turned red and was emitting several light beams around the city.

They managed to land the massive vehicle on a flat surface, having to race to the palace with the only source of light being the red beams, as dark clouds have covered the sun. Winds speeds were very high, indicating that a typhoon was forming. They all rushed inside the throne room, where the royal family of Atlantis awaited nervously.

" _Your majesty! Come with us, quickly!_ " The King stood from his throne and ran towards the three warriors, the Queen stayed behind briefly to get her 17-year-old daughter, Princess Crysta. " _Crysta! Come on!_ " she said, but the princess stay where she was, extremely worried. " _No! I can't go without Marcus!_ " she yelled. Crysta had chosen Marcus, the son of a nobleman, to be the future King. They have already been married for a few months, and must await their succession.

" _Crysta, we have to go, now!_ " the Queen responded. Crysta looked completely full of doubt, but finally made for the exit. They tried to go for an underground shelter, but the winds had become so strong that moving was no easy task. They could all tell that, in the distance, a tsunami was heading straight for the island.

As one of the red light beams passed by their left side, Crysta could make out a wolf figure crouching to the ground. She stopped to look back, and recognized who it was: " _Marcus!_ " she shouted, relieved of worry. " _Crysta!_ " he said back to her. With that, he stood up and the princess and prince embraced each other tightly. When they broke apart, Crysta took Marcus' arm, " _Marcus, my love, come with us! We have to get to someplace safe!_ "

As Crysta finished speaking, one of the light beams coming from directly above stopped right on her. When she stood up to look, it turned from scarlet back to it's regular white color. Marcus noticed her expression turn blank as her eyes glowed a bright silver. Then an aura of the same color appeared around her as she started to levitate upwards, towards the light. Marcus rushed over, but by then, she was too high for him to reach.

" _Crysta!_ " the Atlantean prince shouted as Crysta was pulled into the light, and the four stone slabs revolved around it relatively fast. The King and Queen rushed over to Marcus, who was on his knees, staring at the light. " _Marcus, everything will be fine!_ " said the King. Marcus looked up, " _But, your majesty-_ " the King cut him off: " _Crysta knows how to do this. It has been done for generations._ "

Marcus understood what he meant, but never thought Crysta would do…it. " _O-okay, if you say so…_ " he said before giving a brief bow and stepping back to look up again. The light suddenly looked like it was vibrating rapidly, and the stone slabs reached a speed so high that they looked like a bright white rapidly-spinning ring. Three beams of light (one pale red, one pale green, and one pale blue) came out of three points of a triangle below the light, made their way up to it, and everyone turned their heads away and tightly shut their eyes as the beams were about to reach the light.

They looked up again once they were sure it was safe. The ground began to shake. The tsunami was very close, and the hurricane was violent and thundering, but they were not the cause of the shaking: the entire island began to sink beneath the surface. All of them watched as the wall of ground rose, covered in a large waterfall. Marcus stared at this unnatural phenomenon for a few seconds before a beam of white light appear in front of him. He looked up, and saw Crysta decending. He held out his arms, and she was slowly laid into them. The beam went out once she was completely in his hold, as did her aura and the glow in her eyes.

She blinked a few times. " _Marcus…_ " she said, disorientated. Suddenly, the light began to drift upwards. The King and Queen were in shock, " _Crysta! What have you done!?_ " the King yelled. " _We are not going to survive anyhow!_ " Crysta said, now back on the ground. Once they thought about it, she was right. The tsunami would destroy the island for sure. And the island was sinking; they would be destroyed by the magma beneath the Rock Layer. " _I think I tried to make sure the Star would be in the hands of the living! It's legacy must go on!_ " said Crysta.

The royals and the warriors bowed their heads downwards. There was no other option. " _Alright, daughter. I just hope you did the right thing!_ " And after he finished, the Star shot across the sky, to the west, from what they could tell. Marcus held Crysta tightly as they would await their death, everybody did the same. The Athenian ships had no chance against the tsunami.

In minutes, they were destroyed, and the giant wave filled the hole where Atlantis had been. Hours later, it was like nothing was ever there; it was simply empty ocean.

Meanwhile, the Star that Crysta had bonded to briefly made it's way across the world, landing in what would later be North America. It has not been seen for ages, but that could very well change. And it did in the 21st century, when a certain wolf demonstrated it's power…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'll admit that it is loosely based on "Atlantis: The Lost Empire", but I've made some of my own variations.


	2. Ch. 1 - Party Time!

The population of the anthropomorphic wolves spread throughout the rest of the world, having originated in the Eastern hemisphere. Now North and South America have been founded. But this happened countless years ago. Now we move our story to the city of Jasper, Canada.

Humphrey Chambers, a grey wolf, was walking through the streets of his neighborhood outside of Jasper, just after dusk, with a flashlight in one hand, and a travel bag in the other. He doesn't normally go out after dark, but he couldn't turn down what has just come up earlier that day. He got an invitation from his friend, Kate Ramirez, to visit her for a sleepover. He has visited her many times before, but this is the first overnight invitation. But Humphrey found out that Kate had also invited her boyfriend, Garth Burton, to join them.

This didn't give Humphrey as high of hopes as he wished; he has been deeply in love with Kate ever since the start of middle school 3 years ago, but she has already been taken by Garth, which caused him a great devastation when he found out. Not only that, but going to this sleepover was just going to make him feel like a third wheel…

But, regardless, he couldn't say no to her. It was just not in him. She only lived three streets away, so getting there on foot was not a difficult task. He turned off his light as he made his way up the driveway, and rang the doorbell. "Come in!" he heard Kate's mother, Eve Ramirez, shout from another room. Humphrey opened the front screen door, and came inside. "Hello?" he said loudly, "Kate? Lilly?" He heard footsteps, and a young female wolf with golden fur appeared. Kate.

Her face lit up, "Humphrey!" she said in delight, before rushing over and giving him a hug. Humphrey gave all of his passion as he returned the hug. "I'm so glad you came!" she said. Suddenly, Kate's younger sister, Lilly, appeared from the hallway. Lilly looked much different than Kate; her fur was pure white, she was shorter than Kate, and her mane had more of a comb-over to the side of her head rather than the back, like with most of the other wolves.

"Humphrey, you're here!" she said, also coming over to hug him. Humphrey only gave her a friendly hug with moderate passion. "Alright, what's going down?" said a voice that Humphrey knew all too well…and sure enough, it was Garth, a large wolf with rust-red fur. He came out the same hallway Lilly came out of. "What!?" he said the second he saw Humphrey, "Who invited _you_ , Coyote?"

_Coyote_ …that was the nickname Garth and his friends gave Humphrey at school. He didn't like it. But Garth thought it made sense, because he was burly and muscular, while Humphrey was thin and scrawny. But, Kate was shorter than Humphrey, even if by a few inches, so why hasn't Garth called _her_ Coyote? _'Cause their all boyfriend-girlfriend._ Humphrey thought with disgust.

Garth and Kate were more of the popular people at their school. They won the elections for the Sophomore King and Queen at the Homecoming. Humphrey was one of the lower-level students; not very popular or easy to recognize. The opinions of others in the yearbook were filled with comments on them being together ("Yeah, I think Burton and Ramirez are perfect for each other." "They're such a cute couple. 3" "I can never picture them with anyone else…"). Humphrey was so angry as he read all of these comments, that he ended up throwing his yearbook copy against the wall, taking it outside, and shooting it with his airsoft rifle (his pistol's turn came afterwards). School has just ended for the summer a few days ago, ( _Thank God, no homework for over two months…_ Humphrey thought), so their relationship won't be supported by a large group.

Humphrey only thought for a split second before Kate answered Garth's question: " _I_ invited him, Garth. Don't be a stick in the mud about it." Garth narrowed his eyes, "But, why _him_?" Kate also gave him a stern look, "Because, he's my friend. I really like him, and I figured that a sleepover wouldn't hurt." Humphrey decided to interject: "Yeah, don't ruin everybody's night, Barf." Humphrey snickered in his head as he said this. Since Garth had given Humphrey a bad nickname, why not give _him_ one? He was thankful to have watched "Spaceballs" to give him the idea.

Garth glared, "It's 'Garth'!" he said, furiously. Kate raised a brow, "Hey, that's _my_ line!" she said. Humphrey and Lilly laughed a little. "So," Kate started, "what should we do, now that we're all here?" Garth was suddenly struck from behind by something cloth-like. It was Lilly, with a pillow in her hand, "Pillow fight!" she shouted. Garth rushed to grab another pillow, "Oh, you're not gonna get away with that!" he said, rushing towards her. Lilly squealed and ran across the room.

Humphrey laughed, _Sure, they may be for 6-year-olds,_ he thought, _but…oh, what the hell?_ He made a dash for a pillow on the sofa, and smacked Garth over the head. Kate rushed after Lilly, grabbing her by the tail and hitting her with a pillow repeatedly. All of them were either laughing or screaming with joy.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Eve was in her bed, reading a book. But this was hard due to the noise from downstairs. She set the book down, "Winston!" she called into the bathroom. "Yes, honey?" her husband, who had just come out of the shower, replied. "Would you mind telling those four to quiet down out there?" she nudged her head towards the door. Winston smiled, "Oh, Eve. They're just kids. C'mon, let them have their fun." Eve sighed, "If you say so." She said, absently, turning on the television to block out the noise.

The four young wolves continued to fight for 15 more minutes, before Kate and Humphrey managed to disarm Lilly and Garth, get them on the floor, and hit them both over and over. It wasn't too long before they started to slow down and pant. "I'm tired…" said Humphrey. "I'm hungry," said Kate, "you guys wanna order some pizza?" she asked all three of them. "Heh, you read my stomach!" Lilly said while sitting up again. Humphrey's mouth began to water, "Yeah, and it should have pepperoni, and mushrooms…" Kate continued: "…and sausage, and garlic…" Lilly picked up next: "…and olives, and parmesan…" Garth chimed in as he stood up: "…and apple slices, and shrimp, and white chocolate…"

Everybody looked at Garth as though they just tasted a tart lemon. "…What?" he said, "It's actually pretty good!" Kate made her way to the phone, "Well, let's just make it a reasonable order…" she said. She called Dominoes and requested two large pizzas with the toppings they wanted (though, definitely not Garth's…). She hung up the phone and went straight to her room. A few minutes later, she came out rifling through her purse.

"Oh, Kate!" Humphrey said suddenly, "We can pay for you!" Kate simply continued to search, "I-it's fine, Humphrey. I've got cash to burn, anyhow…" Humphrey walked up to her, "Kate, really, it's no big deal. I brought twenty dol-" "No, Humphrey. You're my guest, and I have to host this event for everyone." The four decided to let Kate pay half of the $36 while the other three paid for the other half. It was about 15 minutes before the pizzas arrived. After they paid, Kate carried them straight to the kitchen.

They opened the two boxes to find two half-and-half, 18-inch pizzas. One was pepperoni on one half, on the other was pepperoni and mushroom. The second one consisted of a sausage side, and an olive side. The smell was very appetizing to all four of them. "Break out the soda, Lilly!" said Kate. Lilly nodded, went into the garage, and came back with two 2-liter bottles. One was Coca-Cola, and the other was root beer. "Let's eat!" said Humphrey. Everyone grabbed their first slice and each filled a glass with their desired beverage. They pretty much gorged at everything.

They continued until very little of the pizza remained, and the soda was almost gone. All of them lay on the floor from overeating. Kate had her lips pressed to a glass like she was still drinking from it, but it was empty. She lifted it, "S-so much… _alimento_ …" she moaned with a Spanish accent on the last word as she dropped the glass, and it rolled away. Garth lay on two chairs with a pizza box on his face. He, too, lifted it to speak, "I will not eat…for-*hic*-for a _hell_ of a long time…" he took another bite of pizza, and put the box back over his face. Humphrey was the first to summon the strength to stand, "Well…wha' should we do now…?" he asked.

Lilly, laying on the countertop, put her hand in the air, "I've got an idea!" she said, weakly. Humphrey sighed, "Yes, Lilly, what is it?" Lilly sat up, "How about we watch Bad Lip Reading?" Kate and Garth stood bolt upright, "Yes! I haven't seen those in, like, two weeks!" said Garth. "Damn, those vids have a _direct line_ to my funny bone!" said Kate, enthusiastically, "I'll boot up my laptop!" she said afterward. They followed Kate to her room, where she logged on to her computer, accessed YouTube, and searched up "Bad Lip Reading".

There were quite a lot of results. They watched Twilight, The Hunger Games, Jeff Who Lives At Home, High School, and several music videos. They could not understand how whoever made these videos could match up the words with the lipsyncing. Sometimes it made sense, other times it didn't. But they were just plain Hilarious with capital "H". All four of them laughed so hard that tears leaked out of their eyes. "O-o-o-o-oh my Go-o-o-o-d!" Humphrey said while laughing, "This stuff is pri-i-i-i-iceless-s-s-s-s-s!"

Just as they thought they were all about to suffocate from excessive laughter, the four wolves decided to take a break. They went outside in Kate's backyard to get some air, where Kate and Humphrey lay side-by-side on the large trampoline, staring at the sky. Lilly and Garth, meanwhile, were playing checkers on the patio. As Garth Kinged his fourth player, he let out a sigh. Lilly looked up from the board, "What's wrong?" she asked. "Well, I really want to spend a bit of time with Kate. But I know trying won't work, 'cause she's just been attached to the Coyote all night."

Lilly smiled, "Well, you two have spent a lot of time together. Why not just take a little break, like Kate?" Garth darted his eyes back and forth uncertainly. He was her boyfriend. It was his duty to be at her side whenever possible. He started to think Lilly said that because she was jealous; he knew that she was still single. Then again…maybe Kate just wants a little time apart? "Well…alright. I give Kate some space." He said, knowing he couldn't deny what Kate wanted. Lilly nodded, "Good. It's not a big deal, really." And with that, they resumed their game.

Kate and Humphrey lay on the trampoline, looking at the stars. "I've always wondered…" Kate said, "…how do you find the North Star?" she asked Humphrey. The grey wolf pointed towards the northern sky as he spoke, "Well, first you look at the Big Dipper, follow the direction that the rim of the ladle points, and you find the Little Dipper, with the North Star on the end of the handle." Kate followed the direction Humphrey pointed, and eventually found it.

"Oh yeah!" Kate said, "It _does_ look somewhat distinguishable from other stars, to be honest." She looked away from it, and at the rest of the sky, "But _all_ of them are just _beautiful_ , aren't they?" Humphrey nodded, "Yep." He said, looking back up, "Up above the world, so high. Like tiny Crystals in the sky…" Kate looked over curiously, "Crystals?" she asked. Humphrey made eye contact again, "What?" he responded. "I'm pretty sure it's 'diamonds', not 'crystals'."

Humphrey was confused, "Well, I _meant_ to say 'diamonds'…but why would 'crystals' jump out of my mouth…?" Kate shrugged her shoulders. Afterwards, they both fell silent for a while more. Kate placed her hand on Humphrey's forearm. Humphrey's eyelids shot upwards and he inaudibly gasped. He started patting the trampoline nervously with his other hand. Kate had never done this before. Plus her touch felt…different from how he has always felt it as. Instead of being casual or friendly, the sensation seemed full of care and passion. It was quite pleasant to Humphrey.

Kate was taken at how soft Humphrey's fur was. Garth's fur was very coarse and ragged, which made it difficult to make physical contact with him. But Humphrey…the sensation of his soft, silk-like fur was something she wanted to experience every day. She couldn't remove her hand, not just on account of the feeling, but also because she thought Humphrey would enjoy it, too. After a bit more time, she decided to move closer to him.

As Kate pressed her side to his, Humphrey started to blush a bit, "Uh…Kate…ah…heh heh…eh, what are you doing?" Kate looked into his teal eyes, "Oh, well, I just wanted…well…y'know…extra warmth…?" Humphrey smiled, and he moved closer to her as well. Kate let out a relieved hum as she snuggled her head up against Humphrey's chest. "Thanks, Humphrey. Is this alright for you?" Humphrey stammered as he spoke: "O-oh, it feels p-pretty girl-p-p-pretty _good_! Pretty g-good. Yeah, it feels…pretty good."

"Good," said Kate, "I'm glad you're not stubborn, like Garth." The two lay for a good period of time. Humphrey had several thoughts going through his head: _Damn, how is all of this happening?_ He said in his head, _Don't question it, Humphrey. Just enjoy it._ He closed his eyes as he wrap his arms around Kate, and the two became more distant from the world as time passed…


	3. Ch. 2 - Awakening

Kate and Humphrey both continue to lay on the trampoline until Lilly and Garth finished their third round of checkers. It was then that Garth came over to them, despite Lilly's earlier interjection. "Alright, what say we do a tournament?" he said, pointing to the table with the checkerboard on it. Kate looked up at him, "Maybe later, Garth. Me and Humphrey want to look at the stars." Garth suddenly noticed how they were laying, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing with her, Coyote!?" he yelled, instantly furious.

Humphrey glanced up at him, confused, "Keeping her warm. She requested it…even if non-verbally." But this only made Garth angrier, "You get your filthy person off of my girl!" he said, shoving Humphrey out from under Kate, and pulling her away. "Garth! Just who do you think you are!?" Kate shouted in his face. Garth simply put on a pathetic smile, "C'mon, Kate. It's 'You-and-Me-Forever', remember?" Kate looked really uncertain, "Well…I guess…but…" Garth didn't let her finish, "Yes, that's right! And nobody will ever end up breaking our bond, _ever_!" "But, Garth-!" Garth pulled Kate in, and kissed her. Kate was shocked at first, and was then completely brainwashed and kissed him back.

Humphrey watched this in severe emotional imbalance. He was badly hurt when the two locked lips that he was about to cry, and then it was replaced with a burning, festering anger. His muscles contracted ferociously, his heart was on fire, and his eyes began to glow bright silver. Garth, meanwhile, was still making out with Kate; when he happened to half-open his eyes at him, they shot upward as he pulled away from Kate. "Huh? What's wrong?" she asked before turning and looking at Humphrey's piercing, glowing eyes.

Humphrey started to stand up, and then he pointed his index and middle fingers at Garth, and shot him with what looked like a lightning bolt, making him launch five feet into the air, and land roughly on the ground. Kate gasped at this, and then more bolts started to be emitted in random directions from Humphrey's body, hitting several stones. The stones then had a strange-looking, glowing white symbol appear on each one, though they were all different. A white aura covered Humphrey as he started to levitate upward, and the nine stones drifted upwards with him, revolving around him in a single-file formation.

"Humphrey!" Kate called up to him. There was no response, but he was suddenly enveloped in an expanding, opaque sphere of light, about 8 feet across, from what they could tell. Eve and Winston suddenly rushed out of the back door, and stared in awe at the light. "It can't be…" Winston said to himself. Winston rushed over to see Kate holding her arm up at the light, and Lilly watching with a look of immense distress. "HUMPHREY!" Kate yelled in tears for a second time. Three glowing symbols appeared on the ground in a triangular formation; a red, green, and blue one. These symbols began to emit slow-moving light beams at the hovering sphere of light above them.

Winston rushed over to his daughters, "Kate! Lilly! Close your eyes!" Kate briefly took her eyes off, and looked at her father, "Why?" she asked, still crying. "Just look away as the beams touch him!" he said over the low whistling of the stones, which were revolving so fast that they became blurs of white light. "O-okay…" said Kate. Winston and Lilly were already facing downward with their eyes shut, but Kate continued to look at the rapidly-spinning light. The beams were about to make contact, and when they were a second away, Kate shut her eyes tight. It was then that she understood why she had to look away; as the beams merged with the light, it became extremely bright for a brief moment, like a camera flash. But, that was _much_ brighter than a camera…perhaps bright enough to cause blindness.

This continued for several more, intense seconds. Finally, the stones began to slow, and the light faded. The stones drifted downwards, back to their original locations, and the symbols vanished. Afterwards, Humphrey was visible again as he slowly came down. When he made it to the ground, the aura and the glow in his eyes went out, and then he fell forward on all fours, panting. "Humphrey!" Kate exclaimed before rushing over and embracing him tightly. "…K-Kate…uuugh…" Humphrey said as he rubbed his head, "…I feel…really dizzy…like I just got off of the Minderaser at Elitch Gardens…"

Kate let go of Humphrey, "Humphrey, what _was_ that!? How did you do that?" she asked him. Humphrey was still very disoriented, "…Ugh…what…?" he said. "That…whatever floating-glowy…thing you just did. Don't you remember it just now?" Humphrey looked up at her, "…well, yes. I wasn't asleep or anything…" Kate continued to question him, "So, how did you do it?" she asked. Humphrey managed to stand up, "…Not sure." Kate's face fell, "Wait, _what_!? How can you do something, but forget about it after?" Humphrey shook his head, "I don't know! I just…did it, somehow…"

Winston stepped forwards, "I know how this has happened, Kate. But I never thought that the next one would be…you, Humphrey." Humphrey tilted his head in confusion, "Next one? What does that mean?" Winston sighed, "It started a long time ago, during the era of Atlantis-" "Atlantis? That city in the mid-Atlantic?" Humphrey asked. Winston smiled, "Yes, that's it." Kate scratched her head, "I thought that city was just a myth. Like, a legend." "No, Kate," said Winston, "Atlantis was a real city, before a cataclysm sank the entire island under the ocean, wiping out the Atlantean race."

"Okay, but what's that got to do with me?" Humphrey asked. "Well," Winston continued, "You're a type of 'one-of-a-kind' wolf that the Atlanteans referred to as a Starsoul, Humphrey." Humphrey raised a brow, "Starsoul?" he asked. "Yes," Winston answered him, "a Starsoul was a member of a special heritage that could harness the energy of a power source in Atlantis. But, I might end up keeping you all up too late if I told the story now. It's nearly 10:30." He said, checking his watch, "I can elaborate on all of it tomorrow, if you want."

Humphrey shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, I can wait." He said. But the truth was, Humphrey was scared; this apparent power he had suddenly became active in him, and he couldn't control it. What if it were to happen again? Humphrey couldn't bear the thought of hurt others without him in control of it. "Well, wake up Garth, and get to bed, before anything else happens." Said Eve. After Winston and Eve went back inside, Kate tried to wake Garth up. "Garth." She said in his ear, but there was no response. "Garth!" she said, louder. "…mmmm…C'mon, Mom…it's Saturday…" Garth said as he woke up. As he finally managed to stand, his eyes lit up in realization, "Wait…you're dead, Coyote!" he lunged at Humphrey, tackling him to the ground.

"Garth, no!" Lilly yelled. "He went all demon-eyes on me, and zapped me! I don't know how he does these freakish things, but one thing's for sure: it means he's a freak! Literally!" Kate pulled Garth off of Humphrey, "Garth, you have to listen to me. If you attack Humphrey, he might end up doing that again! He wasn't even in control of his actions when it happened! You can't blame him!" Garth looked completely reluctant, "…Fine. I just don't want the demon-Coyote shooting me with his demon-lightning." He said. "He's not a demon!" Lilly retaliated.

They all went into the house and set up their beds in the basement living room. Lilly would sleep on the armchair, Garth would simply sleep on the floor in his sleeping bag, Kate decided to sleep on a spare mattress that she pulled out of the storage, and Humphrey decided to sleep on the couch. About 15 minutes after the lights went out, Garth making a light snore could be heard, while Lilly mumbled a little in her sleep. Humphrey lay awake, thinking…is he truly a genuine Starsoul of Atlantis? If so, how has this not happened with his family before?

His train of thought only lasted for a few minutes before Kate broke the silence: "I'm cold." She said in his direction. A wave of delight washed over Humphrey as he stood up, and joined Kate under the blanket on the large mattress. "Better?" he asked. "Yes. Thanks, Humphrey." There was a very long pause before Kate spoke again: "Humphrey, listen. I know that what happened out there was…unusual. But that doesn't mean I don't like you any less. You shouldn't let this get you down. It could be a good thing…" she said, trying to make him hopeful. "Well, you're right, Kate. I'll try to look at the positives of all this, and hopefully, we'll know what it all means soon."

Kate smiled at him, "Good. Well, goodnight Humphrey." "Goodnight, Kate." And with that, the two fell asleep. With a very strange mystery having emerged out of Mother Nature's most unforeseen depths, who knows what could happen next for the 21st Century Starsoul. All will unfold soon, and answers will hopefully become evident.


	4. Ch. 3 - Starsoul Legacy

Kate awoke the next morning to find Humphrey still asleep, but he had his arms wrapped around her. For a moment, she wondered how they ended up like that, but she liked the way it felt. She also liked how Humphrey looked when he was asleep, to be honest. Luckily, Garth hasn't woken up yet, so at least Humphrey is still unharmed.

Kate probably figured that it was best to try and wake Humphrey up before Garth did. She tugged on his sleeveless undershirt, "Humphrey." She whispered loudly. There was no response, so Kate started to nudge his shoulder, "Humphrey." She repeated. Humphrey didn't open his eyes, but he groaned and turned to face the other way. Kate thrust her hand into the back of his head (not enough to hurt him, but to just get his attention). "GUH!...Huh…?" Humphrey muttered as he sat bolt-upright and blinked a few times. "Morning, sleepyhead." Said Kate. Humphrey smiled at her, "Oh, Kate…" he yawned, "…morning already…?"

Lilly yawned off to the side of them, "…Hey…what I miss…?" she said as she awoke. Humphrey silently laughed, "Nothing, why?" Lilly stretched her arms, "Well, why are you two in the same bed?" she asked. Kate and Humphrey blushed, "…Keeping each other warm?" said Kate. Garth, too, began to emerge from unconsciousness. Before he could fully open his eyes, Humphrey leapt off of the mattress and landed on the couch; he didn't want Garth to know he slept with Kate. "…Hugnh…I feel great, ready to start the day." He said as he sat up.

All of them went upstairs. They found Eve and Winston already at the dining room table with their morning coffee. "Morning." Said Winston, raising his mug. "Morning, dad." Said Kate. "Everyone sleep well?" Eve asked the four adolescent wolves. They all nodded. "Good." Eve said. They all went into the kitchen to get some food. Humphrey took one of the glasses off of the counter by the refrigerator filled with what looked like blue tea. He took a sip, and Garth came up to him with a worried look, "You didn't just drink that, did you?" he asked, pointing to the glass in Humphrey's hand. "Mm-hm." Said Humphrey, nodding and smiling innocently. Garth's eyes widened, "That's not good! That's kerosene!" he pointed at the glass again.

Humphrey dropped the glass and clutched his throat in shock. "Yeah…so…" Garth began, "…we'll just take you to the E.R. …and hopefully make it in time…provided that your Star-Power doesn't…ignite it." Humphrey stood frozen for a half-second before a bang went off. "AAH!" Humphrey screamed. He looked behind him to see Lilly holding Garth's iPhone (which had a still-frame of a handgun on it) connected to Kate's guitar amplifier. Garth and Lilly started to burst out laughing. "What's going on in there!?" Eve shouted from the dining room.

Garth acted quickly, "It was nothing! Really, nothing happened!" Eve came into the kitchen, "If that happens again, I will rip out your lungs, and shove them down your throat, so you choke to death on what you use to breathe!" Winston came up to her, "Uh…honey?" Eve immediately lost her aggressive expression, "…Oh, right. Sorry about that." She said, smiling with her eyes closed at a nervous-looking Garth. Eve then went upstairs. Winston looked over at Humphrey, "It's just tea, Humphrey. Not kerosene. And in any case, your 'Star-Power' wouldn't ignite it; only fire can." Humphrey was working on cleaning up the spill he made right then. "Speaking of which, are you ready to learn the truth about your heritage, Humphrey?" said Winston, his expression now serious.

This is the moment Humphrey waited in his sleep for. "Yes, I am." Humphrey answered Winston. Kate, Garth, and Lilly all gathered around Winston with Humphrey as they listened to what Winston had to say. "Okay, now, in my free time, I have always been curious about the Atlantean culture. Including their language, technological advancements, and other outstanding achievements. I've learned that it all narrows down to how the world has perceived the continent." As Winston spoke, everyone exchanged glances with each other. "All the legends of Atlantis across the globe differ in some degree, but they all explain how there had been a power source in Atlantis, in the form of a crystal according to legend, which was capable of giving them their culture an outstanding advancement."

The four listening never knew that something like this could exist. But they were just myths, so maybe they were just a story made up by Plato. "Anyways, the first King of Atlantis had attempted to use this power. But upon making contact with the Crystal, it sent a 'blinding, heavenly light' up his arm, and throughout his body. He was unconscious for days, but the Atlanteans could tell that he was not dead, because of his pulse and breath. About a week after exposure to the Crystal, he awoke, and the Atlanteans were happy that their King was still alive."

"Wow," said Kate, "this sounds like the Crystal-thingy could be dangerous." Winston raised his eyebrows, "Actually, Kate, the Crystal contains properties that are used to protect wolves that pose no threat. The King had one day become aware of an ambush by Athens, and was overcome with strong fear. And then…he happened to do the same thing that Humphrey did, only the legends describe him literally merging with the Crystal. It generated power to enhance the weapons Atlantis owned, and enabled them to stop Athens. This means that this King was the very first Starsoul." Humphrey found it hard to believe that he was royalty, and even harder to belief he was connected to some sort of mythical Crystal (he assumed that this was why he said 'Crystals' instead of 'diamonds' last night when looking at the stars with Kate).

"The state that Humphrey went into last night is what is called a Nova. This happens from two possibilities; the first is when a Starsoul is suffering from overwhelming emotions—the emotions are used by the energy the Crystal placed into the Starsoul heritage. And the other is when the Crystal calls upon a host of the Starsoul bloodline whose energy has not awoken." Humphrey tilted his head to the side, "Whose energy has not awoken?" Winston shook his head, "The Starsoul energy cannot become active in every member of the bloodline for an unknown reason." Humphrey rubbed the back of his head, "So what if an active Starsoul is called by this Crystal?" Winston continued: "Well, that is something that has only happened a few times ever in history, and is the most powerful state known to our kind. It is referred to as a Supernova, which has _far_ more energy and properties than the ordinary Nova state."

Humphrey's eyes widened as he imagined this. He didn't think it could be possible to hold a power stronger than that of all in the world inside his body. But, it might not happen, since he might not ever see this Crystal. "So, the heritage continued throughout the era of Atlantis' Golden Age, until the time of it's destruction. The Day of the Great Flood, which it's called in the legends. The King of the time had two daughters; one became the princess, and the other ran away since she was not chosen to take the throne. The princess had been the Starsoul with the actual power (and is the one who the Crystal used to submerge the city), but her sister still held the ability as well. It never became active in her, but several of her children's children did demonstrate this ability. And it all lead up to…you, Humphrey."

Humphrey never knew that his family, at one point, lived in the lost continent of Atlantis. He had a direct link to the Crystal that powered the empire as well. This could very well make him the living legacy of Atlantis, and is destined to continue it for those of the sunken city who were unable to. "And, out of major coincidence, the Crystal happens to have found it's way here in Jasper, too. If I'm not mistaken, that is." Said Winston. All of the four stood silent. The Crystal was here in Jasper? That couldn't be possible. There was no chance that it could have been here undiscovered this whole time…

"At the time of the city's fall, the Crystal was sent about halfway across the planet, landing in this region." Kate stepped forward, "Dad, I just have one question. How in the holy name of Heaven do you know all of this!?" Winston smiled, "All you need are international sources, logic, and good translation of dead languages. I have access to all three. There're countless people who have worked on finding this out before. I've just been continuing their research." Kate's expression became very amazed, "That's impressive, Dad. I didn't think you spent time on this kind of stuff."

Humphrey now knew the truth. He was directly related to a city long thought to be a myth by Plato. He had access to endless amounts of power from a Crystal that existed in the city. And he is aware that it has been an ability long-forgotten, as it is rare to occur. This will mean that they will have to figure out a way for the Crystal to be able to work with the wolves of Jasper, without doing any harm otherwise.


	5. Ch. 4 - (Semi) Helping a Friend

Humphrey was now taking his trip back to his house in the late morning. He was still unable to get his thoughts off of the events that occurred last night, and where it had all originated. Reviewing all the facts; he is a Starsoul, his family is Atlantean, and the Crystal of Atlantis is here in Jasper City. What could this all mean? Was it mere coincidence or fate? Or was it foreseen by a past Starsoul? Humphrey only managed to get a few more seconds of contemplation in, before…

"WOLFPILE!" Humphrey was suddenly pressed to the ground by three other wolves. This startled him at first, but then he managed to take an accurate guess of who they were. "Alright, guys. Get off, I'm not really awake yet." When the three wolves all stood up, Humphrey was able to stand himself. These were Humphrey's three friends, Shaky Riley, Salty Abernathy, and Mooch Cornelius. "Well," Salty began, "that was actually somewhat of a payback." Humphrey tilted his head, "Payback? Why?" Shaky was next to speak, "Because! Because you really need to keep your distance from Reba and Janice!"

Humphrey's lip quivered at this. Reba and Janice Flynn had supposedly been the "girlfriends" of Shaky and Salty, but after they introduced the two sisters to Humphrey, they became smitten with him. Throughout the school year, they had always attempted to write Humphrey love letters, flirt with him, and stare at him all the time that they were in the same class. Humphrey never had any intentions of stealing either of them away from Shaky or Salty, but they were majorly obsessed with him, from what it seemed (Shaky and Salty even claimed that they outlined his yearbook photo in small hearts). Humphrey was in love with Kate, of course, so for Reba and Janice, it pretty much "tough shit" for their chances.

"I'm trying to do my best to make sure they don't end up with me." Said Humphrey. Mooch folded his arms, "Why, so you can be with Kate?" Shaky gave Humphrey a narrow-eyed glance, "Humphrey, you don't have a chance with Kate. She's an Alpha, and you're an Omega." Humphrey sighed. At their school, the students liked to rank popularity with the Greek alphabet, and in a pyramid form. Kate and Garth were both at the peak of popularity (Alpha), while Humphrey, as well as his three friends, were at the lowest-standard level of the pyramid (Omega). "But don't you guys know how I feel about her?" said Humphrey.

"It doesn't matter! She has a very slim chance of falling for someone like you." Said Salty. " _Us_ , you mean. We're all Omegas." Humphrey replied. "Not anymore! School's over for Summer Break!" Salty continued, "So, I declare myself an Alpha!...(if not a Beta)" Humphrey laughed, "Aren't you aware that Janice is a Beta?" said Humphrey. Salty's face fell. "Reba, too." Said Humphrey to Shaky. He, too, looked suddenly saddened. "And, Mooch, you made up your mind yet?" Humphrey knew that Mooch liked Candy Stern and Sweets Wright, but was having trouble deciding who to pick throughout the second semester. Mooch was suddenly frustrated as well, "…No. They're not gonna like _me_! I'm too fat!" he complained, "And I get really shy around them! Damn…why do they have to be _too_ cute?" Mooch continued.

"Mooch," said Humphrey, "It's not about how you look, or what rank you're given. But it's about who you are. Your morals, your personality." The other three simply nodded idly. "So, I'll make you guys a deal. If you can help me get Kate, then I may just help you all win _your_ girls." Shaky's, Salty's, and Mooch's expressions all lit up. They really couldn't turn down something like this. Humphrey was decent with girls, so it would be a cleaner shot than if they did it on their own. "Well…alright. Just promise that you will help us after, Humphrey. If you double-cross us…" said Shaky. Humphrey nodded, "I'll help you guys! I promise." "Good, you better not back out." Said Shaky. Humphrey then began to continue his walk back home.

"See you guys later!" he said as he walked. The three waved, "See ya, Humphrey!" Humphrey turned one last time back at his friends, "Just try to do this in a decent manner. Otherwise, Kate might suspect something!" As Humphrey continued to walk down the street, he tried to recall what he was just thinking about, but was simply unable to. _Damn. Why does the brain have to work in a very ineffective way?_ He thought, _Oh well…_ he figured that he could dwell on the issue a little later.

At around midday, Kate and Garth took a walk out to the woods outside of Jasper in bathing suits under their clothes, as they decided to go for a swim in a lake that was in the forest; it was a pretty hot day. Garth repeatedly jumped off of a rock and made cannonballs into the water, causing huge splashes that showered Kate with water. Kate was simply trying to relax, but it wasn't easy with Garth causing such a big disturbance. Kate was still unsure about everything. Humphrey's power has caused her a very major complication. She wasn't sure how to let Garth go without him doing something drastic, and she also wanted to figure out a way for her to let Humphrey go if Garth couldn't let her be with him.

Kate was completely unsure if she wanted Humphrey to be her new boyfriend, or to simply keep Garth as her current one. And accepting them both at the same time could be kind of dangerous, as they might end up in a major fight. But now might not be the time to settle on this issue. Kate simply tried to lay in the water near the shore. Garth, who was now getting tired, decided to do the same. He lay for a few minutes, before he heard a clicking noise above him. He opened his eyes to see Shaky Riley with an airsoft pistol in his hand. Garth's eyes widened and he sat up. "Havin' a good soak?" said Shaky, who put on a fake smile. Behind him stood Mooch (holding a pump-action airsoft shotgun), Salty (with a submachine gun), and Reba and Janice (each holding up a compact pistol). All of them, except Shaky, were glaring coldly at Garth.

Garth noticed Kate nervously walking towards the group, "Uh, guys…what's going on here?" she asked. "Why the hell do you guys have guns? Garth asked. None of them responded. Shaky simply continued to smile, while the others simply glared. Garth suddenly realized, "Dammit! I underestimated him! You're all here for the Coyote, aren't you!?" Shaky pulled something out of his pocket, "Oh, you mean him." He said, pointing to the picture of Humphrey he pulled out, "Yeah, you see, all of us hate to see him upset. And, well, he's been upset for quite some time now. If you don't know what I'm saying, then you obviously aren't good at paying attention…"

Kate knew what Shaky was talking about, but wasn't going to say so in front of Garth. "Look," said Garth, "I think it's best to settle this in a more-" but he didn't finish, as he rushed at Salty, grabbed his rifle, and hit him in the muzzle to try to get him to let go. Immediately, Garth felt a sharp sting on his shoulder that caused him to let go of Salty. He turned to see Janice aiming her pistol at him in both hands. Garth placed a hand on the welt as Salty grasped his muzzle while both he and Mooch held their weapons at him. "Not a smart move, Burton." Said Shaky, "You should really learn to understand when to back off of someone when they want."

"I'm Kate's boyfriend!" Garth shouted, "You can't change that with guns!" Shaky smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "But hasn't it occurred to you that many people notice Kate doesn't exactly feel…stable with you?" Kate found it hard to believe that people could see through her hidden emotions, "What makes you think that-" she began, but Shaky cut her off: "A lot of students back at the school can vaguely notice your discomfort with Burton, here. And it's become evident that you don't feel the same way towards him." Kate started to step out of the water towards them, but Reba stepped in front of her with her pistol aimed at Kate, giving her a cold stare. "Guys, why are you doing this?" Kate said to all of them. It was after that she noticed Janice giving her a similar look as Reba's.

"It doesn't exactly concern you, Kate." Said Salty through his hand still on his face, "It's more on the line of the Big, Bad, Burton-Wolf." He said, pointing to Garth. Everybody did agree that Garth was arrogant and boastful, which didn't make him seem like the most friendly wolf. Even Kate had to agree there. "We all know that everybody back at the school, despite your gestures, believes you and Burton should be together, but we think otherwise." Said Mooch. Shaky filled in next by speaking to Garth directly: "So, Burton, consider this a lesson of discipline as a result of upsetting another wolf." Garth glared, "But the Coyote's a nobody!" he yelled. "Actually, he is someone! Someone who deserves someone else who is special to him!" Salty replied with just as much anger.

"Whatever." Garth said, "C'mon, Kate, let's go." He said, pulling Kate away from the group. "Don't forget what we told you!" Reba's voice came from behind them. After they got their clothing back on when they dried off, they started the 10-minute walk back to Kate's house. On the way back, Garth felt very sick with rage, like he got a scolding that he didn't feel he deserved. Kate on the other hand, was wondering, _They did all that for Humphrey?_ She thought, _Who knew he actually felt_ that _way about me…?_ Kate finally knew of Humphrey's feelings for her, but was still worried about how Garth might handle the whole situation if she miraculously winds up with Humphrey.

She did have somewhat of a semi-infatuation with Humphrey, but she really couldn't say if it was love. With all of these countless thoughts stirring inside her brain, Kate decided that it might be best to talk to Humphrey and Garth to see if they couldn't work something out reasonably. But one thing really didn't add up; why did Reba and Janice give Kate a threatening gesture? She never did anything to them, so it's unclear why they considered her to be a part of the problem…


	6. Ch. 5 - Hardship

Humphrey had received a call on his phone later that afternoon from Salty's phone. He answered it to hear Shaky's, Salty's, and Mooch's voices. "So did you guys do it? Did you manage to help my chances with Kate…?" Humphrey asked anxiously. There was a pause before Salty responded: " _Well, Humphrey…how it went down…was…_ " they told Humphrey about their confrontation with Garth and Kate at the lake in the woods earlier, and they gave every possible detail that they could briefly explain.

"Wait, _you did what_!?" said Humphrey in shock, "You guys brought airsoft guns!? Reba and Janice came!? AND YOU MENTIONED ME ALONG WITH IT!?" " _Woah, dude, calm down…_ " Salty said again. "No! I won't! You guys have put me on the _grid_! Now Kate is gonna be furious with me!" Mooch answered next: " _Well, she didn't seem too agitated by it._ " Humphrey didn't believe her outer expression signified her inner expression. "It doesn't matter! I'm done! I'm screwed! Game over!" " _So…I guess that means you're gonna have to move on…?_ " said Shaky. "Well, with what you guys did, hell yes, I'm gonna have to move frickin' on!"

" _I doubt that'll be easy for you, man._ " Said Mooch. "Pfft…it's easy! I just avoid Kate and don't think about her…ever! There's much more important things than a girlfriend." Said Humphrey. " _Really? Name at least 3…_ " said Salty. Humphrey hesitated, "…I-I can't." " _Hmph. Figured as much._ " Humphrey sank to the floor in depression. " _C'mon, Humphrey. I know what'll cheer you up._ " Said Shaky, " _ **It's simple, just tap it-tap it in, that's-**_ " "DON'T-" Humphrey shouted, "-SING THAT JINGLE!" " _What? Why not?_ " " 'Cause it sounds so gay!"

Humphrey was now sure that Kate thought he sent them with the guns to persuade her. It was surely over between him and her. Right about now, Humphrey wanted to dig a hole, and bury himself alive in it. " _Look, Humphrey, maybe Kate isn't sure about who planned it. So, if that is the case, you still have to help us with Reba and Janice and…whoever Mooch decides. If she is angry with you, then you don't have to. So, whaddya say?_ " Humphrey thought for a moment. Maybe they were right. What if Kate thought that they had done it? Humphrey was never very impulsive around Kate, so that could lower suspicion. But, still…

"…Okay. I'll see how this goes soon." Humphrey finally replied. " _Alright, good. We want our girls, too. So let's all just figure out the only way to have a good result of this._ " Said Shaky. "Alright. I'll see you guys later." Said Humphrey. " _See ya, Humphrey._ " Said Mooch. Humphrey hung up his phone and lay on his bed. He couldn't work out how him and Kate could ever come together, especially after the time the students at his school have come to perceive Kate and Garth…

_-Flashback-_

_Humphrey was on his way out the door just as school ended, but since he had about 10 minutes to spare, why not pay Kate a little visit before leaving? He happened to find her taking books out of her backpack from her previous class and placing them into her locker. "Hey, Kate." He said, casually. Kate looked up, "Oh, hey Humphrey." She said with her usual smile. "So, how was your day?" he asked. Kate shrugged, "Well, I was hailed with a shitload of worksheets. You?" Humphrey also shrugged, "Same. It's a dirty job, but_ we all _gotta do it…"_

_Suddenly, one of the female students came out of a branching hallway, and saw the two. "Uh, Kate, who is this?" the wolf asked them. Kate stood up, "Oh, hey Karen! This is my friend, Humphrey." She looked suspiciously at Humphrey, "Why are you speaking to her, Omega?" Humphrey raised a brow, "What's it to you?" he asked. Karen folded her arms, "Well, Garth would be quite…troubled…to find you speaking to her." Humphrey was starting to get slightly angry, "Hey, we're just friends, okay?" he said, reluctant to his own words._

" _Yes," said Karen, "and you are not to be any more than that! Kate is Garth's! They're the star-crossed lovers of the school, so don't even THINK about changing that!" Kate was becoming embarrassed, "Karen, please, Humphrey's really nice and sweet. You're being too prejudice." Karen let out a whoop-like laugh, "But, just look at him! He's an Omega! A waste of space!" Humphrey finally decided to intervene: "Well, I might be an_ Omega _-grade waste of space, but you are an_ Alpha _-waste of space!" he shouted. Karen gasped and slapped Humphrey across the face…hard. Humphrey immediately retaliated by slapping Karen back with equal force._

_She clasped her face as a tear formed on the corresponding side her eye was on. A few more students passed by, and Karen took this open opportunity: "Hey! This Omega here is hitting on Kate! He tried to asked her out!" Several shocked expressions appeared on the students' faces. "N-no, I didn't! She's lying…!" Humphrey said. The students openly expressed their thoughts: "Oh my, God!" "What do you think you're doing!?" "You sick bastard!" "What are you trying to pull, here?" Kate tried to get their attention: "Guys, c'mon! Humphrey didn't do anything!" The students then began to rush past Kate and at Humphrey. "Get him!" one of them shouted._

_Humphrey then began to sprint out of the main entrance/exit and try to make it up to the parking lot just off of the school property, all the while avoiding being devoured by a mob of wolves. It appeared that Shaky, Salty, and Mooch were all aware of the situation; they saw Humphrey's pursuers. Mooch started the car as Humphrey approached. "Get in!" Shaky shouted through the open window. Humphrey flung himself into the car as the door opened, and several people began to get in their cars as they pulled out. "Stop helping him!" someone shouted, "You're a disgrace to the school! It's wrong to help a soulmate-thief!"_

_The students then began to chase the four, but they all ended up getting stuck at a red light that Humphrey and his friends barely made it through. Mooch pulled over, "I think we lost 'em!" he said. The four of them briefly applauded before they saw bikes approaching. "Mooch, reverse NOW!" Salty yelled. Mooch did so, and turned the car around in panic. This then gave Salty a good idea: "Humphrey, stand through the sunroof, and use this…" he reached into the back to pull out his airsoft submachine gun. Humphrey took no hesitation to do this; he was determined to stop these corrupt students at any cost._

" _Alright, let's do this." Said Humphrey as he stood up. He had to dodge a few incoming pebbles that the students on the bikes threw at him, but opened fire on them with the weapon on fully-automatic. "YEAH!" Humphrey bellowed, "WHATCHA GOT, BASTARDS!? WHATCHA GOT!?" A few of the students' bikes shook back and forth violently, and crashed. But some shielded themselves with backpacks. "Mooch, step on it!" Mooch did so, and noticed a dirt road with loose gravel. The wide surface area of a car tire could surely handle it, but maybe not a bike tire. He steered into the branching road, and Humphrey almost fell out of the car. "OH, SHIT! OH, JESUS! OH, GOD!" he yelled as he clutched the opening in the roof of the car._

_As Humphrey pulled himself and the gun back into the car, he looked back to notice the bikes bucking sharply before finally wiping out. Mooch started to get the car back onto the highway, and away from the "crazy" stretch that they were just on. "That was EPIC." Said Salty, enthusiastically. "Aw, it was nothing." Said Humphrey. "No, man, you're like…a marksman! Like…Rambo!" said Shaky, "You know, we should do that more often!" "Yeah!" said Salty, "We could be, like, mercenaries!" Humphrey only continued to let his friends focus on his shooting skills, while he went off into thought._

_The school didn't like the fact the he was talking to Kate, as they thought he was probably flirting, or asking her out, or…something. Why would they worry about something as trivial as that? Relationships are meant to be a personal opinion, not everybody else's opinion…_

_-End Flashback-_

Humphrey let out a sigh. He was glad that school was over, so this greatly reduced the frustration of having to deal with a strong disagreement of him and Kate. But he couldn't block out these memories; they kept coming back to torment him. He did appreciate the people who _did_ support his feelings for Kate, so at least there's _some_ encouragement. But…as for what Kate could think of him, after the confrontation his three friends had with her and Garth, who knows what could happen with their relationship now…?


	7. Ch. 6 - More to Uncover

Kate lay on her bed, thinking. _I never even guessed that Humphrey cared for me so much._ She thought, _But, I don't see how it could have been more obvious without being up-front…I need to pay better attention._ She didn't at all feel uncomfortable with Humphrey's feelings for her, but she still really likes Garth, even if he is a bit cocky and stubborn.

But this wasn't the only thing on her mind; she managed to skim through a few books pertaining to Atlantis that came from her father's bookcase in the basement. She did find that some of the legends did pertain to a crystal in the city that was used as the soul power source and was the very heart of the civilization. All Kate did was look over the books instead of actually reading them, so she only knows the basics. She figured maybe she could go to Humphrey's place and maybe inform him of what she has found.

She put a few of the books in her bag, and set off for Humphrey's. On her way, though, the same thought of this whole love-triangle struck her again and again. She wasn't sure how this was going to affect Garth, but she knew that, if he found out, he'd get pissed, and then all hell would break loose. It might be handy to prepare early for this; she might mention the issue with Humphrey while she was at his house. When she arrived, she rang the doorbell a single time. After a minute of waiting, Humphrey's mother, Alice Chambers, opened the door.

"Oh, Kate!" she said, smiling, "Please come in!" she said, motioning her arm inside. Kate entered, the house and heard a voice come from her left: "Oh. Hello, Katy-girl." Said Humphrey's (…somewhat strange) father, William.

"Um…hello." Kate said with uncertainty, "Is Humphrey around?"

"Yes, he should be up in his room." Said Alice.

"Alright." Said Kate before going up the stairs. As she approached Humphrey's partially open door, she heard what sounded like music. It was music; Kate glanced through the inch-wide opening in the doorway to see Humphrey sitting on his bed with an electric guitar hooked up to an amplifier. He appeared to be playing it in correspondence to the song that was playing on his stereo. Kate immediately knew which song it was: "I'm Still Here" by John Rzeznik.

" _I am a question to the world,_

_Not an answer to be heard._

_All a moment that's held in your arms._

_And what do you think you'd ever say?_

_I won't listen anyway._

_You don't know me,_

_And I'll never be what you want me to be."_

Kate's jaw dropped at how amazing this sounded. His guitar skills were decent, of course, but his singing…she was _sure_ she knew no one else who could sing as good as him.

" _And what do you think you'd understand?_

_I'm a boy, no, I'm a man._

_You can't take me and throw me away._

_And how can you learn what's never shown?_

_Yeah, you stand here on your own._

_They don't know me 'cause I'm not here."_

As she listened to this amazing rendition, Kate wondered; is he doing this because he doesn't think she likes him? Or is it for another reason?

" _And I want a moment to be real,_

_Wanna touch things I don't feel,_

_Wanna hold on and feel I belong._

_And how can the world want me to change?_

_They're the ones that stay the same._

_The don't know me,_

_'Cause I'm not here."_

Kate immediately understood from the lyrics themselves; how the students at the school feel about him interfering with her and Garth. Kate really didn't like what they always did to Humphrey; he deserves so much better.

" _And you see the things they never see_

_All you wanted, I could be_

_Now you know me, and I'm not afraid._

_And I wanna tell you who I am_

_Can you help me be a man?_

_They can't break me_

_As long as I know who I am."_

Kate, too, had a point in her life when she was misunderstood. It was back during elementary school, when everybody appeared to be into what Kate wasn't, and they thought she was "abnormal" as a result. But she let this go a long time ago.

" _And I want a moment to be real,_

_Wanna touch things I don't feel,_

_Wanna hold on and feel I belong._

_And how can the world want me to change?_

_They're the ones that stay the same._

_They can't see me,_

_But I'm still here."_

Kate felt really bad for Humphrey. With everybody disagreeing with him interacting with her, it must be easy to misread the situation, although Kate doesn't blame him. She really hated to see someone as nice as Humphrey seem utterly frustrated.

" _They can't tell me who to be,_

' _Cause I'm not what they see._

_And the world is still sleepin',_

_While I keep on dreamin' for me._

_And their words are just whispers_

_And lies that I'll never believe."_

As she listened, Kate took in all the emotions Humphrey was giving in his splendid voice as he sang. She had to admit, even she sang emotional songs whenever she felt down, too.

" _And I want a moment to be real,_

_Wanna touch things I don't feel,_

_Wanna hold on and feel I belong._

_And how can they say I never change?_

_They're the ones that stay the same._

_I'm the one now,_

' _Cause I'm still here."_

At least the song was now ending, so Kate could now talk to Humphrey when he finished it. He both hung his head down and closed his eyes slowly as the song ended.

" _I'm the one,_

' _Cause I'm still here._

_I'm still here._

_I'm still here._

_I'm still here."_

Humphrey picked up a remote and used it to switch off the stereo, then he removed his guitar, and hung it on the wall-rack it had come from. It was afterwards that Kate opened the door. Humphrey looked flustered, suddenly. "Oh! Kate…" he said, "W-when did you get here…?"

"Just now." She replied with a shrug.

"Ah, I wasn't expecting you." Said Humphrey.

"Should I leave, then?" Kate asked.

"NO! No." said Humphrey, quickly, "It's never a problem for _you_ , Kate. Anyways, what do you need?"

Kate pulled out the books she brought and spread them across Humphrey's desk. "What's all this?" Humphrey asked.

"Some books about Atlantis. I was trying to find out more about where you got your powers." Said Kate. As she opened a book with monochromatic illustrations, Humphrey looked over her shoulder. "So, I was reading this book that describes some old texts by Plato." She turned to a portion that had a text-filled page on one side, and on the other was an ancient-looking city with something hovering above it that looked like a jagged spiral with a dot in the middle **(the Atlantean letter "A")** that emitted light-rays, like an abstract sun. Four, strange-looking flat objects surrounded it in midair.

"So, in this passage" Kate pointed to a paragraph on the text-page, "Plato describes Atlantis flourishing under the light of something that he calls 'The Star of Earth'. Whatever it is, I think it may have something to do with the Crystal that my dad mentioned this morning."

Humphrey looked at the book, "Is there anything else?" he asked.

Kate shook her head, "All that they found was Plato describing how the Atlanteans achieved advanced technology, medicine, and created the first flying vehicle with it."

Huphrey's eyelids shot up, "The Star of Earth!" he shouted.

Kate raised a brow, "Yes. What about it?"

"It's the Star of Earth!" Humphrey repeated, " _That's_ what started the Starsoul heritage! It's not actually a _star_ , it's a crystal!"

"Really!?" Kate said, suddenly catching the realization.

"Yeah!" said Humphrey, "The Crystal that was used to power Atlantis…the light floating above the city…they're the same thing! The Crystal _is_ the Star of Earth!"

Kate pulled up one of the books that she thought she saw a reference to a crystal in. After searching for a few, tense minutes, she found the page. "Ah! Here it is!" she said. Humphrey pulled up a chair and sat beside her while she read aloud: " _In the year 100,000 B.C., Comet Hale-Bopp made it's first recorded pass by Earth. During that time, a small fragment detached from the main nucleus of the comet, which landed in the island of Atlantis. When it was investigated by Atlantean scouts, a crystal that was supposedly a cubic-foot large, and was glowing a lively silver, was recovered. In time after discovery, the Atlanteans became aware of the great properties the Crystal possessed._ "

"So, the Star of Earth came from _space_?" Humphrey asked, his eyes wide.

Kate shrugged, "I suppose. I guess that's why they called it the 'Star' of Earth; they must have thought it was a fallen star on account of it's glow and energy…" she went back to the book and continued to read: " _The Crystal was able to generate an unknown type of energy that could harness electricity from lightning bolts for usage by the Atlanteans, produce fresh water, and influence it's surrounding environment (including many unusual types of fauna and flora species). It was also believe to be telepathically connected to the spirits of deceased wolves; in time, the Crystal grew to a massive proportion, and appeared to possess a consciousness, almost as if it were alive itself. However, this Crystal has supposedly vanished from the world somehow, and has not been seen for an eon of time._ "

"Well," Humphrey began, "didn't your dad say it was here in Jasper, and not gone?"

"Maybe. He has spent more time studying all this than we have." Said Kate. She looked at the picture in the book, "But, if this is the Crystal," she pointed to the floating object, "then what are these things around it?" she pointed to the slab-like objects revolving around it.

Humphrey looked closely at them; they looked like they were stones covered in writing that was in a different language ( _Atlantean, maybe._ Humphrey thought). "I'm not sure what they're for, or even what they are." He finally said.

Kate closed the book, and put all of them back in her bag, "Well, if that Crystal is here in Jasper, I think we should try and look for it to get more answers." Humphrey agreed. But…how were they going to find something that no one else has found for millennia? Hopefully, though, they can find it. Kate was about to leave, when she stopped Humphrey's bedroom door. "Oh, Humphrey…I almost forgot…um…"

"Yes, Kate?" said Humphrey, tilting his head.

Kate made nervous hand gestures behind her back, "Well…your friends…they kind of let me in on…how you…" Kate gulped, "…feel about me?"

Humphrey froze with his heart rate and blood pressure both instantaneously elevated. He turned his head away, "…Dammit! I knew I couldn't trust them!" he said, flinging himself, facedown, onto his bed.

Kate came over to him, "Humphrey, it's alright…really. It doesn't make me uncomfortable; I'm actually happy to know how you feel."

Humphrey looked up at her, "…Really?" he said, weakly.

Kate nodded, "Yes. I still think of us as just friends, but who knows? Maybe my feeling could change, even if I don't expect it." This gave Humphrey some hope, but he was still extremely embarrassed about her suddenly knowing the truth about everything. Perhaps he should have told Shaky, Salty, and Mooch what to do, instead of handling it themselves…

"Well…anyways, I'll be leaving now. Is that alright?" Kate asked.

Humphrey sat up, "Yeah, go ahead. It's no problem."

Kate made her way back to the door, "Well, see ya, Humphrey. I hope to see you again soon." She said.

Humphrey waved, "See ya, Kate."

Kate gave him one last smile before walking out the door and closing it behind her. A minute later, Humphrey watched her walk down his street, and out of sight. _I should have grown a backbone and talked to her myself…_ Humphrey thought, _…at least it would have been wiser._ He lay back down on his bed, and the previous topic came to mind again. If the Star of Earth was here in Jasper, then surely they are going to have to find it if they want to learn the truth about Humphrey's past family.

If they did happen to find it, maybe they could use it the same way the Atlanteans did; that being, enhancing their current civilization and technology. But really, the fact that it exists is a solid piece of evidence pertaining to the Starsoul bloodline and the Atlantean culture. If the Crystal was brought back up to the surface…Jasper as we know it would become a better place.


	8. Ch. 7 - Temptation, Frustration

After learning that Kate wasn't furious with him, Humphrey proceeded to help Shaky, Salty, and Mooch with their girls. The following day, Humphrey decided to visit Reba and Janice, where he told them that he knew how they felt about him, but that he didn't have feelings of the same magnitude. The two were, naturally, somewhat disappointed. Humphrey told them that it wasn't personal or to be cruel, but he had his heart set on another wolf. After much coaxing, Reba and Janice finally agreed, and promised to treat him like they would anyone else…but for today that they just wanted to be left alone. This was when he decided to mention Shaky and Salty, and that they were looking for a couple of lovely wolves themselves.

This did seem to work with a bit of elaboration, as they suddenly became excited. Humphrey gave them Shaky's and Salty's phone numbers, and they figured that maybe a date couldn't hurt to get to know them. You never know how a blind date could turn out…

Now that Humphrey was finished with this business, he figured maybe he could ask Mooch if he'd chosen Candy or Sweets. "Well," Mooch began, "I actually finally got the courage to ask Candy."

"Oh, really?" said Humphrey. _Damn, that was a fast decision…_ He thought to himself.

"Yeah," Mooch replied, "she thought it was really nice of me to ask her out. I didn't think she'd ever say 'yes'. Thanks, Humphrey. I totally owe you one."

Humphrey raised a brow, "What? But, you did this yourself. I never talked to her…"

"But," Mooch began, "you told me that inner qualities are more important than outer ones. And that is something that really spoke to me. I really can't begin to describe how much it has helped me."

Humphrey shrugged his shoulders, "Well, all ended good, right? And my debt to you guys has been fulfilled." And with that, Humphrey went on his way. He did feel happy for his friends, but at the same time, he was also jealous. They all got hot dates with their girls, but _he_ has nothing with Kate! What kind of sense does _that_ make!? He couldn't believe he realized this only now. They now _really_ owe Humphrey one…

Humphrey decided to walk through the park in his neighborhood to let off the excess steam. As a Starsoul, he couldn't risk going into another Nova state; he could end up scaring people, so he had to get rid of his anger in a different form, such as a brisk exercise. He decided to sit on a bench to try and think everything out, but he was stopped in his thought's tracks when a female wolf with silvery-white fur and a slightly ruffled mane appeared in front of him. It was Sweets Wright.

"Hello, Humphrey. I didn't expect to run into you here." She said.

"Hey, Sweets. Where's Candy?" Humphrey asked.

Sweets sighed, "She's been prepping for some kind of date with Mooch Cornelius, so she isn't paying any attention to me anymore…" she sat on the bench next to Humphrey.

"Tell me about it." Said Humphrey, "I absolutely hate seeing couples all happy together."

Sweets looked at the sky, "I know! It's like they're actually _trying_ to rub it in our faces!"

Humphrey lean back against the backrest, "Well, I really have a strong blame against Barf Burton…I like to call him 'Barf'."

"Oh, yeah." Said Sweets, "I could not stand the torture of going through the school year seeing him and Kate all happy together while _I_ was left in the ashes of the singles…Not only do I hate couples; I hate Alphas!"

"Yeah, totally!" said Humphrey, "Tch, 'Alphas'…so pushy…"

"…and boastful…" said Sweets.

"…and conceited…" said Humphrey.

"…and overall…" Sweets began.

"…RIDICULOUS." Both of them said simultaneously before bursting out in laughter.

"Y'know…I was kinda thinking about maybe having all the Omegas teach them a lesson about getting too much attention?" said Sweets.

Humphrey nodded, "Yeah, I'd say they get too caught up with it. They need to be taken down a notch."

"What's say we go kick Garth's ass first!?" Sweets said with lots of enthusiasm.

Humphrey looked confused, "But, why him? He's bigger than us! He could kick both of _our_ asses before we could kick _his_."

Sweets raised a brow at Humphrey, "Well…I do see a lot of potential for someone who knows how to handle an airsoft MP5 and carries a Beretta 92FS."

Humphrey narrowed his eyes at the ground, full of concern at the thought of actually doing this, "Well, see, I don't put all the trust I have into the first girl I meet who carries an airsoft Walther P99 in a shoulder holster…"

Sweets glanced at Humphrey again, "H-how did you know I carry…? Oh, never mind. It's just, everyone can notice the…'bad blood' between you and him. It's understandable. Someone like him doesn't deserve a girl, especially not Kate. Humphrey, I know things that other people don't; Garth is actually a lot worse than you have thought."

Humphrey's eyes widened, "He's on drugs?" he asked, smiling hysterically.

Sweets got a shock from this, "Um…no, it's nothing _that_ serious. I have actually found out that he's cheating on Kate. He's seeing other girls."

Humphrey let his jaw drop; he couldn't stop it, "He's doing _what_!? You mean Barf is a _player_!?"

Sweets shrugged, "That's how things look right now. I think he needs to learn that it is not right, and it will cause him to lose trust. And he's not gonna get the easy way out…we're going to give him a full-course serving of justified means."

Humphrey thought for a moment, _True, I've wanted to give that Barf quite a good kick in the weak spots. But I don't think even both of us could do it. He takes only an ounce to set off his anger-scale…Then again, he's having an affair with Kate. This has to be dealt with somehow…_ Humphrey finally made up his mind, "Alright, but knowing him…you might wanna be wearing a bulletproof vest under motorcycle armor."

Sweets chuckled, "Okay, I get that he likes to use his fists quite a bit. Anyways, I'm gonna be going, now. I'll be getting my AR lubed up if you need me." She was about to walk away when Humphrey still wanted to know something.

"Hey, hold up!" Humphrey said when she was about ten feet away.

Sweets looked back, "Yeah, what is it?" she asked.

"Who exactly is it that Barf is cheating on with…?" Humphrey asked her.

Sweets looked full of regret, "It's…my sister, Victoria."

Humphrey was in total disbelief. The bastard Barf thinks he can see two girls at once for twice the pleasure? He had to tell Kate, but…it might have to wait until he can provide solid evidence; if end uses the information unwisely, it's unlikely that Kate might ever belief him, and she might end up hating him for trying to break the two up. No matter how much the urge to tell her strained him to do so, he had to convince himself that waiting is the best possible thing to do. "Well, thanks for telling me, Sweets. It's best not to keep this from getting out, though."

Sweets nodded, "Gotcha. Well, I'll see you soon. Hope you'll be ready by then!"

Humphrey waved as she left, "See ya!" he said. And he sat down on the bench again. Now he had another piece of evidence he place on the weight hanging above Garth. If all works out, maybe Kate will eventually learn the truth and then she'll be all open for him. As for Garth…he and Sweets would give him a more-than-decent lesson for trying to keep terrible secrets and get away with it. This mission to win Kate is another step closer to victory, but it is still _far_ from over. If he can make this whole thing work in his favor, then Kate is all his. For now, Humphrey will just have to hope for the best case scenario…


	9. Ch. 8 - Conflicting Emotions

Kate received a call from Garth on her cell phone the day after Humphrey encountered Sweets, telling her to meet him at the abandoned factory in the forest. There was apparently something he wanted to discuss with her, and in a place he was sure no one would bother them. But Kate was unsure about this, so she decided to take her neighbors, Candu and Hutch Fulton, to back her up if something happened. She met Garth as soon as she entered the building, while Candu and Hutch remained outside.

" 'Bout time you showed up." Said Garth as she shut the door.

"What's this about, Garth?" Kate questioned him sternly.

Garth folded his arms, "Well, I noticed that ever since the whole sleepover thing, and the Coyote using his demon-powers, you have become more focused on him than me! Why might that be?"

Kate raised her eyebrows at him, "Because! I'm curious about how this is all happening! I want to learn the truth about Humphrey's family, and especially, I want to know where the Star of Earth is!"

Garth tilted his head, "The Star of Earth?"

Kate sighed passively, "It's the name of the Crystal that was used as Atlantis' power-source-"

"WHATEVER!" Garth cut her off, "I don't care what it's called, 'Star of Earth', 'Diamond of Demons', it doesn't matter! What _does_ matter is that you stop hanging around Chambers! It's beginning to question the extent of our relationship!"

Kate narrowed her eyes, "Look, it's normal to be around other people-"

"NOT AROUND OTHER GUYS!" Garth cut her off again, "It goes to show that you like the Coyote more than me! And I will not put up with that! I'm going to be sure that he never wants to see you again, then, it's just you and me, babe!" he said with a seductive tone at the end of the last sentence.

Kate shook her head, "Garth, if you think that this is the way to handle everything…" tears began to stream down her face, "…then we're over! I'm not gonna be the girlfriend of a megalomaniac!" She began to run to another room.

Garth was shocked, "Kate…wait!" he called. But she was gone. He fell to his knees as his head leaned forward, "Kate…you bitch…" he muttered under his breath.

Humphrey and Sweets had meanwhile arrived at the factory. They heard from Lilly that Kate was heading this way to meet up with Garth. This was going to be tricky; they have to somehow get Kate away from Garth in order to take him down. They brought their airsoft weapons with them. When they arrived at the large building, they saw Kate heading inside, while Candu and Hutch Fulton were waiting outside. The two armed wolves began to head around the factory until they spotted a duct in the side of the building that was mounted just over a dried brook. They figured that this would be a good entry to launch a surprise attack on Garth.

"How will we get Kate away from him?" Sweets asked Humphrey before entering the 5-foot-wide concrete tunnel.

"Well…I'm still working on it. I'll figure this all out." Humphrey replied just before turning on a flashlight to illuminate their path. Then the two headed into the pipe and inside of the building…

Kate was still so badly hurt that she just wanted to avoid Garth at all costs. She had entered a small room with a high ceiling and a rusty grate in the floor, but when she stepped into it, the floor depressed by about a centimeter, and the door behind her shut by itself. There was immediately a rumbling noise as the room shook. Kate was startled, and when she looked up, she saw the ceiling slowly descending. Her eyes widened in shock, "Oh, God. What is this!?" she asked no one in particular.

Panicking, Kate tried to wrench the door latch open, but it was locked. She pounded on the door, "Candu! Hutch! Garth! HELP!"

She heard footsteps behind the door, "Kate! Is that you!?" it was Garth; he must have followed Kate. But that didn't matter now.

"Garth, please help me! The ceiling's dropping and the door's stuck! Can you open it?" Kate begged, squatting to the floor.

"I'll try!" he said. There was a loud bang; Garth charged into the door, "No good!" he yelled.

"Psst! Kate!" a voice suddenly said.

Kate whirled around and looked at the grate coming out of the floor; it burst upwards since the bolts were so old and rotten. And, to her great relief, she saw Humphrey.

"Hurry! Come down here!" he said.

Kate immediately dropped into the hole, and the ceiling came down on top of the grate making the main light source Humphrey's flashlight.

"Are you alright?" Humphrey asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…but what are you doing here?" Kate replied.

"Well, I brought Sweets with me…" he motioned his arm to her as she waved to Kate, "…and heard you were coming here from Lilly…so, we heard screaming coming from this way, and found you."

Kate took deep breaths, "Well…thanks." She said with an emotionless tone, "What's with the guns?"

Humphrey was startled by the question, then he knew he had no choice, "Well…we wanted to, uh, y'know…shoot 'em at Barf?"

Kate looked quite surprised, "Well, I didn't think you would ever do this, Humphrey, but you should do it!"

Humphrey raised a brow, "Really? You think so?"

Kate nodded, "Yeah! That asshole deserves it! Give him the nice full-auto treatment!"

They walked down the duct, until they came underneath another grate, they looked up to see Garth walking away, smiling smugly, "Heh. Kate _Sandwich_ …that should teach her a lesson." he said to himself. "Good thing she didn't know I just _pounded_ instead of charged!"

Kate's eyes widened, "He _wanted_ me to die!?" she whispered furiously. She let out an angry groan and pushed open the vent. All of them climbed out and began to follow Garth. They found him at the entrance, doing something with a screwdriver and a 4-inch airsoft Colt Python.

"Stay here." Said Kate. Humphrey and Sweets stood behind the wall, watching discreetly as Kate walked up behind Garth.

Garth glanced back, and his eyes widened, "Kate!" he said, hiding the revolver behind his back. "You're alive!" he said, still surprised. Kate glared at him, but he continued to speak: "The thing is…I thought…you were…" he tensed his finger on the gun's trigger, "…a sandwich!" he said before instantly pulling out the gun from behind him. Kate reacted quite fast to this; she grabbed his arm, pulled the revolver out of his hand with her other one, and aimed it at his face. Garth held up his hands.

"Explain…" Kate said, snarling at him.

"I-I really didn't want to do it! Believe me! The door was stuck!" Garth said quickly.

Kate put her finger on the trigger, "Don't lie to me!" she shouted. Candu and Hutch suddenly burst through the doors, aiming airsoft pistols at Garth.

"Don't worry, Kate, we heard everything." Said Hutch.

Garth stared in surprise, "Ah, what? What!?"

Humphrey and Sweets both emerged from their hiding spot, aiming their rifles at Garth.

Garth looked at them, too, " _WHAT_!?" he put his hands as high as he could, "Where the hell did all of you come from!?"

"That's not important!" said Kate before firing the revolver at Garth in the chest and slapping him clean across the face. He fell on his back, clutching his chest and side of his face. Kate stood over him, "You should have helped me if you really cared about me! And you should let me be with someone else if I don't feel the same way for you!"

" _And_ you shouldn't have started dating my sister!" Sweets yelled.

Kate gasped, "Garth…why?"

Garth continued to lay on the cold, concrete floor, "Well…if you love someone, ya date 'em! There's no law saying a guy can't be in love with multiple girls!"

Kate let out a rasp of disbelief, "That's not love, Garth! That's Playing-the-Field!"

Garth struggled to sit up due to the pain of the slap and welt, but Humphrey came over, and put his foot on his chest to push him back to the floor.

"You've lost, Barf." Humphrey said. He and Sweets both drew their pistols and aimed them at Garth's torso. "This is for cheating on Kate and causing her major problems." Humphrey continued.

"And _this_ is for you Alphas taking all the pride and glory for yourselves, leaving us Omegas in the dust!" Sweets added on. Then, without further hesitation, both Humphrey and Sweets opened fire on him with their semiautomatic weapons. The continued to drain their weapons on Garth, while he squinted his eyes and clenched his teeth in agony. They fired until their guns were empty.

Then, without another word, all of the others simply left the building to leave Garth behind, and some gave a passive hum of acknowledgement. Emotions stirring; sadness, anger, hurt, and now betrayal. No one could believe that Garth had been cheating on Kate, and had actually been trying to keep her along with trying to make sure Humphrey couldn't have her. It's very unlikely that Garth could receive any form of forgiveness, unless he could miraculously make it up to everyone…


	10. Ch. 9 - The Star of Earth

The day after the trouble at the abandoned factory, Humphrey awoke to lovely yellow light trying to come through his window's blinds. His body felt very refreshed, and he absolutely loved to wake up to such a good feeling. His clock said "8:15", but he always liked to sleep in, so maybe 15 more minutes. He closed his eyes again, but then he heard something that made him wake up in a split-second.

"Hey Humphrey, you have to come with me, now! This is amazing!" he heard a voice that he could identify anywhere; Kate was here.

Humphrey sat up, "…Ugh…Kate…? When did you get here?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Just now. Now, come on! This is really important!" Kate said, apparently hyperexcited. She pulled Humphrey away as he barely managed to grab his sandals before he was out the door.

"But, can't I put some clothes on? Or eat breakfast first?" He was still wearing his plain white sleeveless undershirt and black nylon shorts, nothing more.

"Well, you can eat later." Kate said, still pulling him out of his house.

Humphrey saw his parents waiting in one of the cars, which was already running.

"Good morning, Humphrey." Said Alice as Kate and Humphrey got inside the car.

"…Morning." Humphrey replied.

"Alright, let's hit it." Said William, pulling the car out of the driveway, and heading off.

"So, what's all this about…?" Humphrey asked Kate.

"…It's a surprise." Kate replied, subtly.

Humphrey continued to ask Kate for any more hints, but they all did nothing to help him guess. After ten minutes of driving, they came to a large, open field at the edge of Jasper. There were a few trucks with water tanks mounted on them, which some wolves were using to spray piles of soil off of a large, flat area. Humphrey was amazed by this; he has been past this area many times, and this large stone slab thing was never there. What could this be about?

After William parked the car, they were all introduced by Winston. "Hey, Will." He said to Humphrey's father.

"Winston, how've you been lately?" William replied, shaking hands with Winston.

Winston laughed a little bit, "Fair enough." He turned to Humphrey, "Well, Humphrey, today is quite a big day."

"Yeah, I could tell." Humphrey responded, "About that…what's going on here?"

Winston cleared his throat "Quite a lot of people have learned that the Crystal resides here in Jasper, and after spending quite of bit of time searching, we found electromagnetic frequencies centering around here. So we started digging…and found this. We think the Crystal could be under it." He motioned his arm at the stone platform. It was covered in strange symbols and hieroglyphics identical to the ones in the books Kate brought to Humphrey's, as well as patterns and illustrations.

"What we don't know, however, is how this even ended up here…and like this." Winston continued.

"Well," Kate began, "I did some research, and found out that the Crystal can influence it's surroundings. So, I guess it made this stone surface."

Winston's eyes widened, "Wow. That's pretty impressive. I didn't know you started learning about this, Kate."

Suddenly, a large pickup truck drove up and parked next to the car Kate and Humphrey came in. Garth suddenly appeared out of it, as well as his father, Tony.

Kate's jaw dropped, "What the hell are you doing here!?" she questioned Garth when he walked over to them.

Garth raised a brow and put on a smile, "We heard you found the big Atlantis Crystal, so we figured we'd check it out."

Humphrey intervened: "Forget it, Barf. This area is off-limits!"

Garth pushed him aside, "Hey, I'm in on this, too, aren't I?" he said before laughing vaguely.

Lilly suddenly appeared and came over to them, "Hey! I heard what you did to Kate! Get out of here!" she shouted some twenty feet away from Garth.

Tony stepped in the middle of the group, "Hey, play nice with Garth, alright? He's been upset enough as it is."

"Don't defend him!" Kate retaliated.

"ENOUGH!" Winston shouted, "Can't we just make the best of this?"

Everybody was unsure; Garth had caused enough problems already, but he is in on the Atlantis information, so surely he could be allowed to see the Star of Earth for himself? But finally, Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly decided to let him join. All of the hoses have been shut off, so it was safe to walk across the platform. They all managed to get a better look at the engravings in it, which were clearly Atlantean from the books Kate looked through.

When they reached the middle of the circular stone, there was an Atlantean "A" in the middle of three symbols in circles that made a triangle shape (which looked exactly like the symbols on the ground from Humphrey's Nova on the night of the sleepover).

"Now, this" Winston began, "is the energy seal that the Crystal resides behind. To open it, we need to place blood on the symbol here in the middle."

Everybody looked shocked. " _Blood_!?" Kate said.

Winston nodded, "Yes." He then turned to Humphrey, "Your blood, Humphrey."

Humphrey felt his throat go dry. But, a second later, he understood. It takes the blood of a Starsoul to open the seal. Otherwise, no one else can get to the Crystal. "…Alright. I'll do it." Humphrey finally said.

And with that, Winston pulled a fingerstick device from his pocket. Humphrey held out his hand, and Winston punctured his skin. Humphrey clenched his teeth slightly, but it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. He then rubbed his finger across the damp, cold stone, staining it with his red blood. For a second, nothing happened. Then, the Atlantean "A" began to glow a bright silver, and the ground started to shake.

"It's working." Said Winston, "Well, I'm going to leave this in your hands." He said to Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Garth.

"What? But, dad-" Kate began.

But Winston cut her off: "I'm sure you all can figure this out. I'm _positive_ that you can."

A six-foot diameter circle of stone around the glowing symbol began to slowly sink beneath the earth. "Get on! All four of you!" Winston said, quickly, "Just look through this," he tossed Kate a book, "and all of your questions will be answered. Good luck!"

The stone continued to sink, making it become gradually darker. When there was a large chamber starting to appear, they thought it would be pitch-black, but a second later, they saw the red glare of magma, and were introduced to a thick steam (strangely not smoke). As they continued to descend, they saw what looked like a small mesa with water running off all sides of it. Above it was something hanging from the ceiling glowing a brilliant white, and with many stone slabs of different sizes that looked like gravestones around it.

It took them a moment to notice that the thing was not hanging, but it was _floating in midair_. The stone slabs were also floating slowly revolving around the light counterclockwise. They had strange glowing symbols on them; all two lines with one word each, though some of them had two words per line. The stone-elevator finally stopped at the bottom, and they all stepped off.

"So, that's it, then?" Garth said, pointing to the floating object, which they could safely assume is the Star of Earth. His voice was still audible, since the water falling on the magma wasn't making much noise, somehow.

"It's got to be…" Kate replied to Garth. All of them stared at the floating crystal-based mass surrounded by stone slabs. "But something doesn't add up." Kate continued.

"What might that be?" Humphrey asked.

"Well," Kate said, opening the book Winston gave her, "in this illustration, there's four stones around it. So, how is it that there's now…like, nine?" They all thought the same thing; it didn't seem to make sense.

Humphrey examined the stones more closely by squinting harder, and suddenly, his eyes widened, "The past Starsouls…" He whispered with awe, "The Crystal was able to keep track, all this time…"

They looked back down to see Garth walking towards the Crystal on a stone path, which lead to the spot directly under it. "Garth, wait…" Kate suddenly said, but he continued to walk. He noticed that it was emitting a beam of light straight downward on the circular platform that the path ended on. He stopped right in front of the spotted silver light, and looked up to see what looked like an enormous fortune-teller's crystal ball with a smooth surface, emitting a flaring white aura that resembled prominences coming from every side of a star.

He waved his hand through the beam, and the Crystal suddenly turned a deep, fiery crimson, and began to emit several moving light beams around the cave. It also made a very evil-sounding hum, almost like and electrical buzzing sound that changed in pitch and volume.

"Can we just hurry up?" Lilly suddenly said, "This place is giving me the creeps…"

Garth made his way back over, away from the red Crystal, "Okay, Kate, now what?" he asked.

Kate looked in the book, "Alright, so it's a mass which has a similar structure to quartz, but has special, supernatural properties that enable it to change it's environment, and produce an endless amount of water; it's easy to see that both have occurred and/or are occurring.

As she spoke, however, one of the light beams passed over them, stopped on Humphrey, and it's color turned back to white again. Humphrey looked up at the Star of Earth, "Crysta…" he whispered inaudibly. His eyes began to glow as the Star of Earth accessed his mind, and he started to walk forward. Kate and Garth, meanwhile, were still talking.

"I'm not sure, the book doesn't explain what-" Kate stopped a reply to Garth as they all noticed Humphrey. His eyes were glowing, and the light beam was following him as he walked.

Garth raised a brow, "Ummm…why is the Coyote acting strange, suddenly?"

Kate flipped open the book and pointed to one of the pages, "Look, it doesn't say anything else! It only says that the Star of Earth…" she looked through the pages again, "…is conscious; alive. And it's the one thing that kept Atlantis alive. Nothing else has any elaboration!"

Garth was losing patience: "Can't you just figure anything _else_ out without the book?" he questioned.

Kate became very stern: "Hey! Why don't _you_ read and try to figure out what this all means!" She walked up to Humphrey, who stopped at the start of the bridge-like path, "C'mon, Humphrey, can't you back me up here?"

Humphrey slowly began to turn and spoke: " _All in due time, will all be at peace, Kate Ramirez. You need not to dwell or worry._ " His voice was strange; his normal voice was there, but it sounded as though it was electronically layered over a deeper, heavenly voice.

Kate turned back to Lilly and Garth. "Is he flirting with you!?" Garth asked Kate, semi-agitated.

"No." Kate replied, then she turned back to Humphrey, "I don't think that was even _him_ talking…"

Humphrey then turned back around, and slowly began to walk along the stone path, towards the Star of Earth. When he was directly under it, the stones began to move away from the Crystal, and towards the edges of the cave, making it more visible. Humphrey closed his eyes and exhaled as a white aura appeared around him, and he began to hover upwards into the Crystal. Kate, Garth, and Lilly all watched with their jaws dropped.

When Humphrey made it up to the Crystal, he actually _phased through it's surface_ and stopped in the middle of it. The white light suddenly became slightly dimmer as the stones began to revolve around the Crystal, gradually getting faster. _Much_ faster, almost like race cars, and then the light became blinding; the three had to turn their eyes away. After a few seconds, it dimmed down again, and a light descended out of the Crystal, which was now emitting very little light. The bright shape dimmed more to reveal Humphrey.

Humphrey's skin was covered in glowing patterns, almost like engravings, and they were mostly visible since Humphrey didn't get changed out of his undershirt and shorts. There were a few flares and flashes that came off of him. Kate looked over to see Lilly with her jaw dropped and her eyes wider than ever. Garth simply stared passively with his hands in his pockets. Humphrey then began to drift downward, and when he reached the stone floor, he didn't touch the actually ground, but hovered a few inches, and similar patterns on his skin appeared in a circle below him.

Kate longed to go over to him, but Garth stopped her, " _Not_ your boyfriend, remember?"

Kate simply turned her head back over to him, "Humphrey!" she said loudly.

Humphrey stood for a moment, and then his eyes opened, glowing brightly.

"Humphrey…" Kate whispered as a tear streamed down her face. Although hovering in midair, Humphrey moved his legs back and forth like someone trying to paddle through water vertically, but slowly. The stones began to drop from around the Crystal, and made huge splashes. Although the water would have soaked him, it seemed to move around him like he is surrounded by a slick invisible sphere.

As he approached, a faint, high-pitched hum could be heard. Garth snickered, "This is new." He muttered.

Kate hit him in the arm, " _At least_ don't be so cocky…"

Garth clutched his arm, "Well, excuuuuse me, Princess…"

All four of them got back onto the stone-elevator, and began to rise back out of the cave…


	11. Ch. 10 - Twice the Tension

When Kate, Garth, and Lilly all left the chamber with the Star-Humphrey, many of the adult wolves started to put him inside what looked like a large glass case on a steel block. Winston put up the last wall of glass on the case, screwing it on with an electric screwdriver. Immediately after all the glass was in place, Kate saw Humphrey close his eyes, but only for a split-second, because the glass became opaque with a white glow.

"So," William began, "all this time, my son…was a Starsoul."

"Yes." Winston replied, "We found it out on the night he visited."

Alice folded her hands and looked at the ground, "I just don't understand why this happened…"

Winston placed a hand on her shoulder, "I've been researching all this…trust me, Humphrey's gonna be just fine." And then, he walked away without another word.

Kate went after him, "Dad…" she said as she approached.

Winston looked over at her, "So…have you figured it out yet, Kate?"

Kate's eyes darted back and forth, "Well…uh…Humphrey's…mmm…"

"He's been chosen…" Winston responded, "…like few Starsouls before him."

Kate tilted her head, "Whaddya mean?"

Winston cleared his throat, "When it senses a threat or danger, the Crystal will give it's energy to a wolf, one of the Starsoul heritage, for it to reach it's potential power. It will not do so with any random wolf."

"Wait," said Kate, "your saying that the Star of Earth is _alive_?"

Winston nodded, "Yes…and no. The Crystal's energy is fueled by the consciousness of wolf souls; as a result, it generates power used to protect living beings." He took the book in Kate's hand and opened to an illustrated page, "Over time, it grew…and became conscious from excess energy. The Atlanteans had tried to use it as a weapon, but it's power not only affected their enemies, but them too. The power overwhelmed them…and destroyed the island."

Kate's eyes widened, "So that's why it was sent here; to keep it hidden from other civilizations that the Atlanteans were aware of…but they didn't know about North America."

Winston nodded, "Yes…and they hoped nobody would misuse it's power. Or to have anybody harness it's power…much like Humphrey's doing now."

Kate closed the book in Winston's hand, "But dad…what's gonna happen with Humphrey?"

Winston sighed and closed his eyes, "If he is infused with the Crystal's energy for too long, then he'll merge with the Crystal itself…forever."

Kate looked worried, "How would that happen?"

"Well," Winston slowly started, "he would turn into a glowing silver cloud, and move straight towards the Crystal, passing through anything in his way." He looked back at the glass cage, "We're keeping him behind one inch of bulletproof glass for his security, but he has to… _act_ …soon."

Kate knew what her father meant, but how they could get him back into the cave, or bring the now useless Star of Earth out, she didn't know. Her heart ached at the thought of the Star taking Humphrey out of her life. He had always been a good, fun-loving, adventurous friend of hers, and she didn't want all that to suddenly leave her.

Garth, meanwhile, had gone back to his neighborhood. He was still very angry about Kate rejecting him. He figured he should try to get back at her. BIG time, too. He happened to know a good computer-hacking expert on his block. He was a disabled millionaire retiree who always spent his life in his house, and only went outside for mail. But he was well-associated with Garth.

Garth took a walk down to his place and rang the doorbell. When the door opened, he saw the old wolf in an electric wheelchair, "Oh, hello Burton."

Garth smiled, "Hey, Mr. Tuco. Can you do me a favor?"

Tuco shrugged, "Yeah, what is it?"

"I need you to help create something that will be catastrophic on Jasper. And I mean _Armageddon_ -grade catastrophic. Able to?" Garth asked.

Tuco nodded, "Sure, no problem. But, what for?"

Garth glanced around, "I've been treated like garbage, and I want the ones responsible to suffer."

Tuco nodded again, "Alright, I'll think of something."

Garth thanked him and went on his way. Behind the locked doors of Tuco's house, the elderly wolf was busy silently hacking his way into a military LEO satellite armed with a state-of-the-art laser cannon. With his years of experience, he could hack into any mainframe or network with relative ease, completely undetected. Once he got control of the turret, he noticed that a small asteroid was slingshotting it's way around the planet.

Tuco figured he could change the trajectory; after doing a bunch of complicated math, he aligned the crosshairs at the desire point, waited for the precise moment, and discharged a single laser blast. The space rock split into two, one half went away from the Earth, but the other started to orbit at a much faster speed, gradually getting closer as time passed…


	12. Ch. 11 - All Hell Breaks Loose

Garth spent a good portion of his time to try and extend his revenge on everyone further; he was rounding up a lot of his friends with airsoft weapons to prepare an assault. He considered it to be quite justifiable; Kate's break up with him seemed so unfair. Now Kate is gonna suffer the consequences of her actions, despite Garth refusing to believe that he truly deserved it.

"Now," Garth began speaking into an electronic bullhorn at the large group, "there have been some major difficulties between me and Kate. She has been the cause, while I've just been trying to act nice around her."

All of the adolescent wolves nodded in acknowledgement.

"So," Garth continued, "what's say we go and teach her a lesson; never break up with Garth Burton for the sake of some mystical-crystal-Coyote! Are we gonna do this!?"

"Yeah!" the large group shouted, waving their weapons in the air.

"Good! Let's get ready for this; the sooner we start, the better." Garth said.

Unbeknownst to Garth, or anyone else there, Kate and Lilly were secretly watching this all go down. Kate was shocked that Garth was going to put up an offense, but Lilly had spent most of the time watching a turtle slowly crawl across the ground (they were her favorite animal).

"Lilly," said Kate, "can you take your eyes off the turtle for two seconds, please?"

Lilly looked up, "What?" she said.

Kate sighed, "We gotta do something about Garth; we need to fight back to defend ourselves!"

Lilly looked uncertain, "I don't know…I've never used a gun before, let alone airsoft…"

Kate laughed slightly; she spent a lot of time shooting airsoft guns, "There's nothing to it; just aim and pull the trigger."

They spent the next half of an hour calling phone numbers, explaining the situation, and requesting assistance. Many agreed to come over to Kate's house with their airsoft guns and ammo, and help her fight Garth's alliance. In the next 20 minutes, Shaky, Salty, Mooch, Candu, Hutch, Reba, Janice, Candy, Sweets, and several others showed up.

"Alright," said Kate to the group on top of a chair, "Garth Burton is going to attack us here shortly, but I think I know how to stop him. We need to break some rules here, but it should work regardless."

"So, what?" said Shaky, "Burton is just gonna hand our asses to us… _again_."

"Maybe, but he'll win for sure if we do nothing!" said Kate, "Now, I've printed out instructions pertaining to the places to be, and the time you have to be there. I know where Garth is going to be, and it gave me quite a few ideas of how to beat him."

Many people started to come up and have Kate hand them their specified instructions. They read through them, and raised their brows while nodding and humming in agreement. Shaky came up to Kate, "My mistake; this will totally work." He said, enthusiastically.

"Alright, everybody start preparing your weapons!" said Kate. All of them immediately began to load their weapons and do a few test-shots. Kate was busy loading her assault rifle and semiautomatic pistol, and putting on tactical armor.

Lilly came over to Kate, "Um, Kate, I still think this could be handled differently…"

Kate narrowed her eyes, "There _is_ no other way, Lilly. Garth isn't going to stop; like I said, we have to fight back."

Lilly sighed, "Well, I still don't agree with this…"

"It's alright, Lilly. I'll give you a handgun, but with what I planned, you might not need to use it." Said Kate.

"So, why have it if I don't use it?" Lilly asked.

Kate shrugged, "Just in case. Y'know, better safe than sorry."

It was then afterwards that all of them immediately headed into the woods, to the location Garth and his group was preparing at; the abandoned factory. Kate figured it would work better to attack them before they were ready and would leave. Kate took a spot outside the front of the building, while several of the others surrounded the rest of the place.

"You guys ready?" Kate whispered into her earpiece.

"We're all in position; let's do this." Candu's voice said.

Kate watched as she saw Garth walking down the path out of the woods with his airsoft revolver strapped to his leg, followed by two wolves in full body-armor, holding M16-style airsoft assault rifles. When he entered the building, he turned to his escorts; "Make sure no one enters." He said.

The two wolves nodded and stood on either side of the door after it closed. Kate cupped her hands over her mouth and made a dove cooing sound towards the other end of the building. Another cooing responded. From the area the sound came from was Lilly walking towards the two guards.

"Hey!" she said out loud at them, "maybe you wanna try a different color of armor? Grey, maybe, to blend in with the building? Or…pink? It would be a good color on you."

Kate hung her head down, _Real subtle there, Lilly…_ she thought.

The two guards looked at each other (no one could see their facial expressions, because of the helmets they wore), and then they aimed their rifles straight at Lilly. "State your business." One of them said.

Lilly stepped back, "What's this about?" she asked.

"It's procedure. Now tell us why you're here, or leave!" the other one said, threateningly.

Kate noticed Lilly's hand reaching for the pistol behind her back, "Look, guys, there's no need for this. I'm just passing by." Said Lilly.

"Then get the hell outta here, bitch!" one of the guards said.

Lilly looked thoroughly shocked; she pulled out the pistol, pointing it at the guard who yelled at her. "Gun!" he shouted.

Lilly fired twice, and then the two guards opened fire on her with their automatic rifles, but they did not hit her once as she ran. Several wolves from Kate's alliance started to emerge and open fire on the attacking guards. One pulled out a communication radio and frantically spoke into it: "Code Red! Code Red! This is Mike, we're under attack!"

Several members of Kate's team started to rush at the guards, surrounding them and holding them at gunpoint. "Put your hands in the air!" Candy shouted at them. The two simply stared in distress.

"NOW!" Mooch yelled.

Slowly, the guards set down the rifles and held their hands up visibly. The team then, keeping their guns trained on the guards, walked into the factory. All of them started to rush down the long corridor into a large room, and then they saw Garth's army taking airsoft guns out of crates.

"Here they are!" Kate yelled at the front of the crowd.

"We've got some customers!" Garth yelled to his group.

Airsoft gunfire immediately broke out. People began to take shelter behind large crates and silos and vehicles and machinery. Fully-automatic rifles blaring, semiautomatic and pump-action guns clunking, airsoft ammo pinging; countless sounds of a real, intense airsoft war.

Garth took shelter with a few others of his alliance. He was looking around frantically, firing a round from his revolver occasionally. He spotted Kate, followed by a few others who had been responsible for his problems. He was instantly filled with rage. "Take them." He said to his teammates, pointing at Kate and her unit.

Reba and Janice were in a pinch; enemies were on either side of them, and their only barrier was in between two long crates. One of the assailants opened fire with a machine-pistol, scaring the two, forcing them to get to the ground. Panicking, Janice pulled a grenade off of Reba's belt, and sent it hurling at the wolf firing at them. It exploded, sending airsoft ammo in every direction, making him stumble and fall over. Reba looked amazed, "Nice one!" she said before the two took the open escape Janice made.

Shaky, Salty, and Mooch were all trying to ward off approaching enemies. They fired repeatedly and randomly, losing precious ammo. This was when Mooch noticed a bunch of wooden dowels strapped down onto an 18-wheeler. "I've got an idea!" said Mooch, before he ducked his way through fire. Shaky and Salty tried to see what he was doing, but were forced to keep defending themselves. Mooch released the latches on the two straps, and pushed the stack of dowels off of the truck. The wolves shooting Shaky and Salty were caught by surprise; the dowels got under their feet as they walked, and they fell flat on their stomachs.

Shaky and Salty were stunned, "That was _awesome_ , Mooch!" said Salty. All of them continued their assault, since they had little time to congratulate each other.

Kate and Lilly were both fighting side-by-side. Kate noticed a large group of enemies heading straight towards them. She had to reload her rifle; "Lilly!" she said, pointing to the group. Lilly aimed her pistol and fired at them as they came up a stairwell to the platform they were on. As Kate reloaded, she noticed the attackers jumping off the stairwell to avoid Lilly's fire. She even laughed a little at their cowardice. Once her gun was loaded, Kate stood up and looked over the rail; she saw Garth shooting in random directions.

Kate pulled a loose wire off of the rail, and swung on it like a jungle vine towards Garth. He looked at her, and then a shocked look spread over his face as he tried to raise the pistol at her. But it was only a split second before… _*BAM*_ Kate smashed into Garth, making them both hit the ground.

Garth struggled to stand, "Well, Kate, I have to hand it to you." He said, cracking his back, "you have been an even _bigger_ bitch than I could have ever possibly imagined!"

Kate stood up to try and land a good punch on him, but Garth caught her fist. He then used his other hand to punch her in the chest, followed by a good kick to the stomach, sending her flying backwards.

"I'm quite a good wolf! It takes quite a lot to piss me off! But you've done it, Kate! You've broken the record for how much my anger scale can be broken!" Garth said, smiling menacingly. He then picked up a 2x4, and started to swing at Kate. Kate dodged the board repeatedly.

"You almost done, Kate?" said Garth, "I'm going to teach you a lesson that you will always reflect on for the rest of your life!" Kate managed to get around Garth, and strike him in the base of the neck with a well-placed karate chop. Garth dropped the 2x4 and collapsed, unconscious. Kate stood, panting. She finally did it. She managed to take down Garth, the toughest Alpha in their school. Kate will definitely never date him ever again…

Kate managed to meet up with the rest of the group, and they helped to drag out the unconscious Garth. There was no more threat to them; they were able to scare off the rest of Garth's alliance. They bound his hands and feet with ropes to keep the threat minimal when he awakens.

"That was intense." Said Lilly to Kate.

"Yeah, but at least we won." Said Kate, "and Garth surely has learned his lesson. Hopefully he remembers when he wakes his ass up."

Lilly, for some reason though, couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She knew that everything Garth did was bad and impulsive, but…something deep inside her made her expose her pity for him.

Just as they had managed to carry Garth outside, an air-raid siren began to go off somewhere. A few minutes later, a bright streak of light appeared in the sky, gradually appearing to get larger…


	13. Ch. 12 - Supernova

Mr. Tuco had been very uncertain of all this. He did something that he knew would end up killing everyone, but all he did was take Garth's word for it. He wasn't thinking this whole thing through; they would evacuate, and so would he, but if the authorities were to find out about him doing it, he would land himself in a _world_ of trouble.

"I'm not gonna let anyone punish me." Tuco said to himself, "I'll be gone before they can all do so." He then wheeled his wheelchair into his bedroom, and pulled a magnum revolver out of his bedside stand's drawer. He pressed the firearm's muzzle to his head, "On this day…I leave this world." And with that, he pulled the trigger, creating an earsplitting bang and ending the life of the elderly wolf.

Kate and the others were shocked by the scene they saw above them. The sky was getting dark, and whatever was causing that bright glint in the sky was not an aircraft. In fact, they could tell that it was _huge_.

"We gotta get outta here!" said Hutch. All of them ran as fast as they could (the ones carrying Garth struggling to keep up) before they arrived at the edge of the neighborhood. It was there that they found their parents waiting for them in their cars.

"Kate! Lilly!" Winston shouted over to his daughter, "Get in the truck, hurry!"

Kate and Lilly rushed inside of the truck, tossing their airsoft weapons in the back of the vehicle. "Um, dad, what's going on?" Lilly asked, hesitantly.

"There's a gigantic meteor coming straight towards us. We need to get downtown to Humphrey as fast as we can!" he floored the accelerator, speeding them up to about 80 m.p.h. Nobody understood why this was happening; if there was a meteor in the path of Earth, N.A.S.A. would have been able to see it long before this period in time, and would have driven it off it's course.

Garth was slowly starting to awaken after he was carried into his father's car, and was already on the road. "…Ugh…dad…why are we going so fast…?" he asked, straining to get up.

Tony, glanced over at him, "Oh, son, you're up. We need to head downtown; a big damning space rock is gonna smash us if we don't do something Winston has in mind."

Garth looked up at the large, bright, orange dot in the dark sky. He allowed his eyelids to shoot up. Where did this come from? This was all like Armageddon…wait! Garth thought for a moment about his earlier encounter with Mr. Tuco. Sure, he wanted some type of crisis to strike Jasper…but he didn't mean for Mr. Tuco to take his advice literally! Now they're all probably just going to die, he fears.

It took several minutes for them to reach downtown Jasper City. By then, nightfall had past, and the stars were slowly appearing. They drove to the place at the heart of the city where Humphrey was being kept secured. Sure enough, they came across the brightly glowing glass case that held Humphrey. A large population of wolves were all surrounding it, and slowly moving out of the way for the incoming cars.

Kate and her family, and several others began to rapidly exit their vehicles. Kate, Lilly, Winston, and Eve all ran up to the glass cage, where Winston began to rapidly unscrew one of the glass walls off. "Dad, what are you doing?" Kate asked her father.

Winston looked away from the bolt at Kate, "…Supernova." He said before proceeding to work.

Kate was stunned that she was about to witness one of the rarest and most powerful things happen right here in Jasper. It made her scared for some reason, but also very excited. She could hear people's voices directed at them:

"Um, Mr. Ramirez…I really hate to pressure you, but…" Kate heard Shaky saying, "… _we've got a rock being dropped on us by God!_ "

"Winston!" Hutch shouted, pointing to Shaky, "that guy says the meteor is minutes away!"

Winston hauled with all his might, and after a minute, the glass box came apart by the walls, falling in a circular pattern. A loud, low hum and blinding light came from within, and several people gasped and shrieked and stepped back. The light faded to reveal Humphrey, still infused with the energy of the Star of Earth. He turned a certain direction, held out his hands, and stringlike beams started to emit from them. He then pointed them gradually more downwards, until they were in the spot directly in front of him. He then began to raise his hands, and a large object phased through the ground; the Star of Earth without it's energy.

It ascended into the night sky, until it hovered above the heart of Jasper City. From the point Humphrey was hovering over, gaps between each slab of pavement began to spread all throughout the city, filling cement spaces on brick walls, or engraved words on buildings. The scene was spectacular, almost like a futuristic city. Suddenly, several large objects appeared from behind several buildings, apparently moving very fast; the Starsoul stones. They began to revolve around Humphrey as he ascended towards the Star of Earth. When he merged with it, the Crystal lit up like a fiery white beacon in the dark blue sky.

All of the citizens of Jasper were watching like it was someone doing an impossible stunt. Suddenly, the stones began to revolve much faster, and simply dissolved into a bright silver ring of light as the Star of Earth itself became brighter. Kate looked to see all of her friends with dropped jaws and widened eyes. And then, the Crystal emitted a bright beam of light at the meteor in the sky, which now looked terrifyingly close. The beam didn't appear to be doing anything, though.

At that very moment, three strange, glowing symbols of the three primary colors light, appeared on the ground in triangular formation, and began to emit beams of light at the Star of Earth.

"Everybody look away!" Winston yelled as loud as he could. People began to relay the message to others, and soon, everybody had their eyes off of the Crystal until after it emitting it's blinding light for a brief moment. The beam that was shooting at the meteor began to get thicker and brighter from the base, slowly moving it's way up. The meteor then began to start visibly cracking, and moments later, started to break up into smaller pieces. It was only a few miles away now, and then…it exploded. Not violently, as do most meteors, but somehow stable.

The remaining fragments simply burned up in the atmosphere, and were quite amazing to watch; it was practically a meteor shower, though the fragments were now too small to cause any damage. The wolves of Jasper burst into applause at the sight of a threat to their existence being nullified. The Star of Earth has saved Jasper, much like it has done for Atlantis on past occasions. The beams on the Crystal vanished, as did the symbols on the ground and the glowing patterns. The stones slowed back to their "neutral" speed, and the Crystal dimmed back to it's regular brightness.

Kate was amazed that all this has just happened. She was sure there was never a more thrilling and terrifying moment in her life…ever. But, what is to come of all this? Did this all happen by fate, or was it foreseen by a supernatural force? Either way, Kate, and all her friends are relieved that no one was harmed, and that the city is safe.


	14. Ch. 13 - Two are better than One

Soon, after all the commotion had settled, Kate began to make her way back through the crowd. She noticed the Star of Earth emitting a beam of light straight downward. She, and many others, looked up to see a gray wolf, covered in a white aura, slowly descending downward.

_Humphrey…_ Kate thought anxiously. The glowing patterns on his skin had vanished, and the Crystal was now glowing on it's own again. Kate stepped under the beam (ignoring the people watching her) and held out her arms as Humphrey slowly came down. She helped to lay him on the ground, and when she did, she noticed his eyes were closed. This didn't happen during his Nova state on the night of the sleepover. Once he was on the ground, the light beam and his aura both went out. Humphrey let out a faint, low hum, and then his eyelids flickered. Tears came to Kate's eyes as this happened. Humphrey looked up at her.

"Kate…" he said, disoriented, "…have I ever told you…how I…" he didn't finish, as Kate wrapped her arms around him, lifting him from the ground slightly.

"Humphrey!" She said, still crying, "I'm _so glad_ you're back! We were all _so worried_ about you…"

Humphrey returned Kate's hug, "Yeah…but at least it's over. Damn…that was insane."

At that moment, Shaky, Salty, and Mooch all came up to them, with their jaws hanging and eyes wide as hotcakes. "Dude." Said Shaky, "What…"

"…was…" said Salty.

"… _that_!?" Mooch finished.

Humphrey sat up, "Something that my family's had for a long time…" he said.

"Uh-uh." Said Salty, " _No way in Hell_ that was real."

Kate smiled, "Well, guess what? It is real. It happened, and you saw it."

Suddenly, two wolves showed up after Kate finished. "Humphrey! That was _you_!?" the male wolf said.

"What happened?" the female said. Humphrey stood up to see that this was Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Browning, his English and Algebra teachers.

"Well," Kate explained the whole story; how Humphrey went into a Nova state, how his family got the power from the Star of Earth floating above Jasper now, and how it gave it's power to Humphrey to save Jasper.

"No…something like this is impossible." Said Ms. Browning.

"And yet, there it is." Said Mr. Kennedy, pointing to the Star of Earth and it's revolving Starsoul stones. "Any reason this all happened, though?" he asked the group.

"…It kinda centered around me. Let's just say…I indirectly pissed Humphrey off." Said Kate.

Ms. Browning chuckled, "You kids have some of the craziest adventures when school gets out, y'know?"

All of them laughed, "It's true. Unexpected things happen in the world outside of school." Said Humphrey.

After the two teacher's left, Mooch spoke: "So, Humphrey. Did it, like…hurt?" he asked.

Humphrey exhaled, "Well, actually…it felt like the biggest energy boast I ever got in my life. It made me feel like I could run for miles, or lift an eighteen-wheeler." The group laughed again.

"Yeah, I bet _I_ could use that to get me on the school football team." Said Salty, "Then Janice will have an even _better_ outlook on me."

Kate and Humphrey decided to step away from the other three when they started discussing. "Listen, Kate." Said Humphrey, "While I was up there…I became aware of some of the Crystal's properties."

Kate tilted her head, "Whaddya mean?" she asked.

Humphrey looked up at the Crystal, "Kate…I want you to…join me."

Kate knew what he meant, despite his little elaboration, "…Yes, Humphrey. I will do it." That was all she said before she and Humphrey started to walk to the middle of the plaza. Humphrey closed his eyes, and then a beam of light came straight downward from the Crystal on them. Several wolves came over to see what it was doing. Humphrey encased Kate in his arms, and Kate held herself against Humphrey as well. The silver aura appeared around Humphrey, and both him and Kate started to drift upwards towards the Star of Earth.

It was about halfway up that the aura encased Kate as well. As they were about to enter the Crystal, Kate shut her eyes. When they did, the Starsoul stones began to increase in speed, and the Crystal dimmed briefly before gradually getting brighter again. The stones reached a very fast speed, and a wind was coming from the point directly underneath the Crystal, going in all directions. After a minute or so, the stones slowed, and both Kate and Humphrey descended from the Star of Earth, but this time, Kate didn't appear to be holding on to Humphrey. Both of them made it to the ground, their silver aura vanished, and the light beam dimmed. Both collapsed on all fours, and slowly stood up.

"…Did it work?" Kate asked, "…I still feel the same."

Humphrey nodded, "I'm sure it did." He replied.

Shaky, Salty, and Mooch all came up to the two again. "Humphrey! What did you do this time?" Shaky asked.

"Well," Humphrey began, "me and Kate…now share the same energy."

All three of them looked amazed. "You mean…you put some of that power…into _her_!?" Salty questioned.

"Yes." Said Humphrey. Kate was now, like Humphrey, a Starsoul. She could now utilize the same energy properties as Humphrey and the Star of Earth. Humphrey was sure that there was no other way they could possibly be together.

"Humphrey…all of these things that have happened…they've made me realize my true feelings for you." Said Kate.

Humphrey began to blush heavily, "Aw, it's nothing. I'm sure it would have happened before all of this." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Possibly," Kate replied, "but, I'm still glad that, through all of these unlikely and dangerous events, you and me ended up together."

_Together?_ Humphrey thought. He had a hunch of what Kate meant, and was pretty sure that he was right about it. All he did, though, was simply nod, "Yeah, me too. Anyways, I'm gonna head home and crash for the night. You oughta get some rest too."

Kate smiled, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully. Goodnight, Humphrey."

"Goodnight, Kate." Humphrey replied, waving as he walked away.

It had been just about the strangest and most unusual event in recorded history, though many in other places found it to be potentially skeptical and fictional, though many who saw this phenomenon with their own eyes supported this claim. Several people electronically recorded this and put it on the internet, though there are rumors that people believe it was a digitally altered. Oh well, seeing may not be believing, though believing is seeing. If you need ask what it means, you may never understand.


	15. Ch. 14 - Endings are New Beginnings

Kate and Humphrey were regarded as heroes for saving Jasper from it's imminent doom. All of the citizens of Jasper were impressed by their efforts to discover what it took to solve what the Atlanteans left for the North Americans to discover. Nothing was more outstanding in the history of Jasper. Humphrey was finally glad that, for the first time in his life, he was recognized, he was actually someone. And because of him, Jasper is now able to utilize the energy of the Star of Earth, which now hovers over Jasper City as a beacon of light and hope for the citizens and a better future. This was truly the biggest moment in Canada's time.

A major party had been thrown to celebrate all of these events. It lasted for about a week…but to be honest, neither Kate nor Humphrey remember much of it. Soon after, the entire country became aware of the Crystal's presence in Jasper, and after that, the whole world knew. Many across the seas and countries requested to obtain a fragment of it for themselves. Only Starsouls have the ability to dislodge a shard of the Crystal…and they use up a lot of stamina doing so. But the Star of Earth could easily regenerate the lost piece while the other shard retains it's power. The entire world later used the Crystal in many ways to improve their society; everything from technology advances to construction improvements. All the cultures across the world agreed to never, under any circumstance, use the Crystal as a weapon, as it would result in the tragedy caused by Atlantis' same mistake.

But that all happened many years in the future. The day after the Supernova destroyed the meteor that threated the city, a news report came up saying that Mr. Diego Tuco has been the victim of an apparent suicide, found dead in his upstairs bedroom with a bullet wound in his head, and a revolver on the floor next to him. The case was soon ruled out as a suicide of an unknown intent, as the CSIs could not find any sign of it being a murder. But nobody really paid attention to this story, as all they appeared to be interested in was the discovery of the Star of Earth.

Kate and Humphrey had been called to the square they had been at the previous day. When they arrived, two large stones with engravings on them were set up in the middle of the stone plaza. "I wonder what these are?" said Humphrey.

"I'm not sure." Said Kate.

When they walked up to them, an adult wolf appeared from behind one of them, "Ah, Humphrey Chambers and Kate Ramirez." He said. "Glad you're here!"

Neither Kate nor Humphrey commented on the introduction. "What's all this?" Kate asked.

"Ah! Yes," the wolf said, "these are the Starsoul monoliths that will symbolize your presence in this era. We have finished cutting them and engraving your names in Atlantean. All you need to do now is give them energy."

Humphrey tilted his head, "Why do all this? The Star of Earth can-"

"While it is true that it can make the stone on it's own after the Starsoul's death…" the wolf explained, "…the Atlanteans considered it a greater honor for each Starsoul to infuse their stone with their own energy. Only then, they believed, would they reach Salvation."

Kate and Humphrey immediately understood. They both got confirmation from the linguists whom were present there of whose stone was whose. Both stood in front of their stone.

"Are you ready?" said Kate.

"Yes. I'm ready to have a true place in history." Humphrey said, excited.

And then, he and Kate placed their hands on the stones, closed their eyes, and after a few minutes, silver light filled the engravings and Atlantean text from the point their hands touched. Kate and Humphrey both opened their eyes, and the monoliths began to very slowly levitate upward. The slow speed made them take a while to make it up to the Star of Earth directly above them, but they entered the vacant space made by the Crystal, and began to revolve in unison with the other stones, side by side; just like how it is with the actual two.

Humphrey looked over at Kate to see tears coming out of her eyes as all this happened, and after a minute, he realized that he was crying, too. Both then made eye contact, and slowly move in towards each other, blocking out everything else in the world…and kissed. The kiss seemed to last for a long time; it could have been a few minutes, or many days at best, but both Starsouls found it to be the most pleasurable thing they have experienced to date. As they broke away from each other, they both remained silent for a good period.

"Humphrey…" Kate began, "…I hate what I did during the school year. I made the wrong choice…and I made a living being very upset."

Humphrey finally emerged from his state of hyper-excitement from the kiss. She must be referring to her relationship with Garth. It sounds almost like she's apologizing for what happened.

Kate continued: "But, I finally have come to realize my true feelings. Humphrey…I love you."

Humphrey was completely dumbstruck; he had just heard the three most powerful words in existence come out of someone he thought would never possibly say that to him. He was suddenly happier than he had ever been in his entire life. "…I love you too, Kate." Came his reply after a real-time delay.

And with that, the two Starsouls hugged each other with more care than ever previously shared. They were locked in a seemingly unbreakable embrace as though to never let go. This was truly the best day of Kate and Humphrey's lives. They would never… _ever_ …forget this day.

...But, not everyone is happy. Garth, the former Alpha, was now walking through the streets of his neighborhood. He was now at a rock-bottom level; he was alone in a world that now hated him, he was dumped by the only girl he ever had feelings for (despite being the hotshot for nearly all the girls at his school), and his friends had failed his simple plans. Garth felt as though he was just a mass that was not supposed to exist in the universe. He hated being stripped of his title of honor, recognition, and power; the three things he believed an Alpha must receive.

"Oh, Garth." A voice in front of him said. Garth looked up to see that it was Lilly who spoke to him.

"…Lilly. What do you want?" he asked, coldly.

"Garth, look, I know you're upset. I understand that all of this is hard, but you have to move on! Remember, no matter how many bad things happen, life will continue." Said Lilly.

Before allowing himself to let anger get the best of him, he stopped and thought for a minute. Maybe Lilly's right; maybe he should move on and find another girl? No…there wasn't another girl in the universe…or any super-universe in the mega-universe that was as hot as Kate.

Lilly suddenly placed her hand on Garth's shoulder, "Trust me…" she said, softly. Her touch and stare both had quite an effect; Garth suddenly received the full message by her touch, and something about her eyes seemed to convince him to do the right thing…but it seemed to be doing something else.

_How have I not noticed how hot she is before…?_ Garth suddenly thought to himself. He was blind to the fact that he was with Kate and a few other girls, but it wasn't just Lilly's looks; her personality seemed to be quite suitable for the type of girl he preferred. Calm, caring, and kind. Both he and Lilly were pulled into a trance by this, and slowly leaned towards each other, and touching each other's lips. The kiss lasted for what seemed to be a decade, even though it was less than a minute. Both really enjoyed it, despite Garth's deep-down voice saying "What the hell are you doing!?", but he blocked it out. They separated their lips, and looked each other in the eye with an expression that clearly said "You're mine."

The rapid growth of the two relationships was incredible to everyone the four were acquainted with, but they were happy for the four of them for finding the love of their life. Probably nothing is more important in nature…than finding the perfect mate.


End file.
